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George Santayana had irrational faith in reason - I have irrational faith in TV.
22 December 2024: The three latest written interviews of me are here, here and here.
Just written last Thursday - already #1 on
Amazon Computers and Technology Top 100
last updated 22 November 2016
This essay can be considered a new chapter in my book Digital McLuhan, published in 1999, or before the advent of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and the social media of our age. Marshall McLuhan's ideas, including hot and cool, the medium is the message, and the tetrad, are applied to help us understand selfies, tweeting, iconic television shows such as The Sopranos and Mad Men, the Arab Spring, the U.S. Presidential election of 2016, and the Kindle revolution itself.
Tyrant made a compelling debut on FX last night, with an especially excellent three-part twist at the end of the episode to set up the series.
The story of an American pediatrician who goes back with his wife and two kids to a Syria-like Arab country for his nephew's wedding was good in any case. His father is the tyrant, beset by the Arab Spring, and his brother, the heir-apparent, is cruel and vicious to everyone other than his family, including not only enemies but just about all women. Understandably, Barry nee Bassam Al Fayeed is less than thrilled about going back home, even for just a few days for the wedding, but he lets his wife talk him into it (who, by the way, is implausibly clueless about what's going on in her husband's country, in one of the few flaws in this series).
The first twist - the sudden death of his father (by apparently natural causes) - also understandably sets Barry in motion to leave the country as quickly as possible. His daughter is happy enough to do this, but the exit sets off a major argument with his wife, and the son would just as soon stay as well, seduced by the opulence of the palace.
The second and third twists now come into play. Jamal is seriously wounded in a car crash, which shoves the reigns of power Barry's way, and we learn that it was Barry who as boy shot the prisoner in the series of flashbacks we've been seeing.
This now puts Barry in an ironic and powerful position for this story: Could it be that he's the tyrant of the title? We know his late father came to think that Barry not Jamal would be a better successor, and if Barry as a boy had whatever it took to step up and kill someone ... well, that's a fearsome strength indeed.
The show is a Gideon Raff creation - of Homeland fame - and also has Howard Gordon (Homeland, 24) on board, so the propensity for brilliant, high-adrenalin staging and writing is high. As is the case with Homeland, the borderline with reality is very carefully treaded - the killings of Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi are mentioned - and given the almost daily explosive events in the Middle East on the news, there will be a lot to draw upon if this series continues in further seasons, which at this point I certainly hope it does.
The coming attractions to The Good Wife 3.15 showed Will, in danger of disbarment, leaving the office with a baseball bat. The relative good news, as we found out tonight, is that Will isn't going off to bash anyone. He's going off to play baseball.
He'll have a little time on his hands, because he elected to take the six-month suspension from practicing law, rather than risking permanent disbarment. It was the smart move, but I hate to see Will give in even an inch to the forces of sloth and evil that are always at work to bring him down.
The specific story for the night was good too - keyed perfectly into what is going on right now in Syria. Although what happened to the brave freedom fighter in Homs, on a Skype or other vid connection with Kalinda, was predictable, it was nonetheless very moving.
No so the episode's treatment of Occupy Wall Street. A judge gives an impassioned shout-out to OWS, but it's bundled in a lame comedic thread that just didn't work. OWS is serious enough to warrant it's own serious treatment on this show. Memo to writers: do it.
But there are some good stories brewing in Peter's office, as he directs Cary to shake things up, and I'm looking forward to the next episode, which will be on in ... March? Well, maybe it give Will some time to get a little baseball in somewhere.
"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book
Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Plot to Save Socrates - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ...
I offer ongoing commentary about Occupy Wall Street, September 27
through November 23, 2011. The commentary first appeared in 15 blog
posts - dates, titles, and links to the text of the blog posts are
listed below. Main themes include Occupy Wall Street as a resurgence of
direct democracy, police violation of the First Amendment in their
violence against protesters and the press, failure of the Obama
administration to protect the rights of Occupy citizens attacked by
munipalities, and much more. The audio podcast is about 55 minutes in
length. It is intended as both analysis and eyewitness to one of the
most important revolutions in human history. Further chronicles will
appear here in subsequent months.
audio podcast: Occupy Wall Street Chronicles, Part 1
With tensions on the rise in Cairo about the upcoming elections, with people out in Tahrir Square menaced by police and authorities, it is all to easy to smugly say thank goodness we don't have it that bad here in New York City, in the United States.
I admit to thinking something like that when the Arab Spring emerged some ten months ago. But I don't believe that now - not with cops in NYC arresting and roughing up protesters and members of the press, and cops out in California pepper-spraying and beating innocent students on campuses.
Hundreds of Egyptians died for freedom in the Arab Spring earlier this year, and more than 40 have been killed in the past week. So far, that has not happened in the United States. But although local authorities have made some moves to restrain the police here - as in Bloomberg's belated order that the NYPD must let the press do its job - there is still no Federal or across-the-board recognition from any part of the government in the United States that police here having been going much too too far in brutal attempts to control Occupiers.
The White House has publicly denounced what riot police are now doing in Egypt. Will a mainstream, old-media reporter ask President Obama why he doesn't do the same about out-of-control police in New York and California?
In the global village that Marshall McLuhan foresaw in the 1960s and which has come into reality this past year, Cairo and New York City and every place in which people have come out in the streets for freedom and economic justice are more alike than apart. It would be good if in the coming days and months this shared global community was not beset by violence from the authorities who represent the interests of an older world order which is cracking.
The bipartisan bozos in Washington - the super-committee tasked this summer with working out a new budget by the day before Thanksgiving - are reported to be on the verge of announcing failure to reach agreement on a new budget. This is after Congress and the President failed to reach agreement on a new budget this summer, and instead created the super-committee to come up with a budget, with a back-up of draconian cuts to major arteries of government, ranging from the military to human services., is a new budget was not agreed upon and approved by Congress.
The upshot: at a time when our and the world's economy are in serious crisis - at a time, in other words, in which government is more needed than ever - our representative government in the United States is incapable of performing.
Part of it is their own fault. The Senate is tied up because it has imposed upon itself a de facto requirement of 60 votes to pass controversial legislation. Constitutional scholar Lyle Denniston quotes Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon, not on the super-committee) as noting that the Constitution "only specifies a 'supermajority' for a limited list of Senate actions.
Some of them are: ratification of treaties, conviction of a President in
an impeachment trial, overriding presidential vetoes, approving
constitutional amendments ..." Nowhere does the Constitution say that 60 votes are required for difficult or controversial legislation - indeed, I would argue that, the more pressing the need for some kind of legislation, the more illogical and counterproductive it is to require 60 votes. In addition to that requirement being extra-Constitutional.
But there is a deeper factor at work here, that goes beyond our elected representatives shooting themselves in their own feet. Representative democracy may well be floundering because we finally have the means, in the digital age, to govern ourselves, to discuss and vote upon pressing issues, directly.
If budgets were put to a direct majority up-or-down vote of the American people, surely one would soon get 50% of the vote plus one. Surely, in other words, a new budget would be soon be adopted.
The digital revolution - social media, or what I call "new new media" - have given us the means to do this. Occupy Wall Street and the the Arab Spring are the leading expression of this. Unsurprisingly, representative governments and dictatorships are alike in opposing these developments. But the tide of history is turning. The representative governments and the dictatorships will continue to decay, and the people will emerge triumphant, one hopes will less bloodshed overseas and less police brutality in the US, than we've seen so far.
Just saw Tiffany Shlain's new documentary Connected: An Autoblogography about Love, Death & Technology via private online screening. I saw an earlier version about a year ago, and was well impressed both times.
The movie is actually three in one -
1. Connected is a sagely and even delightfully presented story of our interconnectedness as a species - among ourselves, all living things, and the technologies through which we extend ourselves and give substance to our imaginations, plans, and desires. In its warnings about what we can do wrong - such as Mao's killing of sparrows to improve harvests (sparrows eat seeds) which resulted in massive crop failure (fewer sparrows resulted in more locusts, also eaten by sparrows) - Connected is cousin to Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. In the hope it holds out for our new media, it is the kind of movie Buckminster Fuller might have made.
2. Connected is a passionate biography of Leonard Shlain (1937-2009) - Tiffany's father - whose The Alphabet versus the Goddess (1999)argued that the advent of the alphabet over earlier forms of writing encouraged masculine thinking and dominance. In its daring media determinism and historical sweep, the book put Leonard Shlain on a par with Julian Jaynes as a worthy successor to Marshall McLuhan in provocative and mind-opening hypothesis.
3. But Connected is most of all an autobiography of Tiffany Shlain, who recounts her inspiration by her father, her struggle with his passing, her struggle to make sense of the curves the universe has thrown her, and in one way or another, throws at all of us. That's what it means to be an intelligent being in this world, someone who doesn't just accept what she or he finds, but seeks to understand it, get a little on top of it, and thereby have a little bit more say and control over the course of our lives and the world.
Narrated by Tiffany Shlain and Peter Coyote. Animated bits by Stefan Nadelman (of Food Fight fame). Highly recommended for students of media - indeed, for students of life.
Connected opens in major cities in America in September - here 's a list - and Fordham University will be hosting a special free screening on September 25 as part of its Media at the Center McLuhan Centenary symposia.
Note added October 14, 2011: I was at the premiere screening in New York City - at the Angelika Film Center - earlier this evening. The movie's better than ever on the big screen, and the audience loved it. It's become increasingly clear to me, in the past few weeks, that Tiffany Shlain's movie is the story of humanity, and recent history in particular, leading up to the healthy resurgence of direct democracy in the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street - triggered, stimulated, facilitated by the advent of social media, or what I call New New Media. Which is what I'll be talking about when I lead a discussion with the audience after the October 19, Wednesday, 7:15pm screening, at The Angelika.
new review of New New Media, 2nd edition: "Paul Levinson's book is a much-needed work, both for its incisive, user-friendly overview of new new media and for its optimism about the positive potential of these technologies for society and democratic action." - Barna Donovan, Explorations in Media Ecology, February 2018
October 16, 2015: "Edward Snowden at Bard College" blog post by me September 2, 2015: "The Eye in the Sky in the Hand: How Cameras in Smartphones Are Finally Beginning to Bring Police to Justice," abstract of talk I'll be giving at Digital Culture Symposium at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia on December 3, 2015
December 8, 2014: Arabic edition of New New Media, published Dar Al-Fajr, Cairo, Egypt November 12, 2014: "Why I'm Against Net Neutrality" blog post; podcast
August 7, 2014: "The Medium of the Book: Fifty Years after Understanding Media" abstract of Keynote Address to be given by me September 25, 2014 at Baylor University Symposium marking the 50th anniversary of the publication of Marshall McLuhan's Understanding Media.
April 30, 2014: "Tetrad on Eyeglasses Flipping into Google Glass" blog post by me April 6, 2014: "Tetrad on the Selfie" blog post by me March 30, 2014: Arabic translation of New New Media, 2nd edition, sent to press; to be published worldwide by Dar Al-Fajr Publishing, Cairo, Egypt; watch for announcement
July 15, 2012, Bob Mann, "Let's Consider the Source," 7:30pm-8pm, XM Public Radio Channel 133 and Sirius Channel 196
July 17, 2012, Steve Adubato, "One on One,"12:30am, WNET-TV (PBS)
May 10, 2012: cover of 2nd edition - first look:
March 1, 2012: revised, 2nd edition now in publisher's (Pearson's) hands! New edition is substantially different from the first, with new chapters, new chapter order, and lots of new topics (see below). There will be time for additional updates until the book goes to press - some time in late May. After the book is published, if any one sees any errors, please put them in a comment to this post, and I'll list them - with credit - in a new Errata section on this page.
February 23, 2012: revised, 2nd edition of New New Mediaoff to publisher (Pearson) in the next few days. Here is some of what's brand new in this edition: Pinterest, Instagram, Google+, Foursquare, Klout, novel-in-tweets, WikiLeaks, Anonymous, SOPA, KONY 2012, The Tea Party, The Arab Spring, The Indignatos, Occupy Wall Street, Revolution of the White Snow, US 2012 Presidential Election ... more details, including Table of Contents
February 14-15, 2012: 1st mentions of New New Media 2e (second edition) in the media ... in Politico, "Fox 'course correction' rankles some," Keach Hagey, February 14, 2012 ... in Mediaite, "Some Conservatives Are Upset Over Fox News’ Alleged Move To The Left," Nando Di Fino, February 15, 2012
December 21, 2011: contract received for 2nd, revised edition of New New Media ... willhave newbig chapter on Occupy Wall Street, the Arab Spring, and the Resurgence of Direct Democracy (the last words I wrote for the 1st edition in June 2009 were about the use of social media in the Green Revolution in Iran) ... expansion of election chapter to include new new media analysis of the American election of 2012 ... a new chapter on FourSquare and the digital/real world mix ... expansion of hardware section to include iPads and Kindles ... rearranged table of contents with Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube much higher up, focus on new Facebook Timeline, and addition of Google+ ... and much more ... publication date: July 15 2012
February 20, 2011: New New Media in 4th printing ...
Stay up to date with my analysis of new new media developments since the publication of New New Media on September 3, 2009. My new blog series, published on different blogs, and recorded on different podcasts: What's Newer than New New Media:
4. November 15, 2009: Academe and the Decline of News Media, The Chronicle Review (Chronicle of Higher Education), 18 academics including me briefly discuss; I see no decline
5. November 30, 2009: Weep Not for Newspapers ... a 15-minute podcast on why I think the decline of newspapers may be the best thing for journalism and democracy
20. February 23, 2011: Lecture at St. Francis College, Brooklyn, NY: "North Africa Shows the Medium is Still the Message: McLuhan at 100"
21. February 28, 2011: "The Long Story about the Short Medium: Twitter as a Communication Medium in Historical, Present, and Future Context" published in Journal of Communication Research, Seoul, Korea ... 6000+ word essay written January 11, 2011, read the online version here
22. April 19, 2011: Jose Antonio Vargas and I on Dylan Ratigan Show (MSNBC), talking about Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and politics ...
23. April 20, 2011: Chinese edition of New New Media published -
24. May 24, 2011: I'm interviewed by the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB Lab) right before my Keynote Address in Barcelona - see video
25. May 24, 2011: A clip from my Keynote Address at McLuhan Galaxy conference, Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB Lab), in Barcelona: "YouTube Looks at You"
30.
October 19, 2011, 7pm screening in Angelika Theater (NYC) of Connected movie by Tiffany Shlain, followed by talk by me about movie & Occupy Wall Street direct democracy (see my review of Connected)
31. October 22, 2011, panel about Occupy Wall Street on Good Day Street Talk, Fox-NY-5 television, taped October 20, in which I discuss the impact of Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube and on the reemergence of direct democracy
32. January 17, 2012: Is Wikipedia Wrong To Go Dark For SOPA Protest? brief article by me in Mediaite ... short answer: yes, Wikipedia should have found a way to oppose SOPA (which I also strongly opposed) that did not disadvantage people (like students) who rely on Wikipedia as a resource.
September 3, 2009:New New Media published by Penguin/Pearson, Allyn & Bacon, in the U.S and Canada ... "international edition" also shipped ... October 10, 2009: Kindle edition published
In the Media:New New Media=in the newspapers= August 19, 2009 Baltimore City Paper article "A Million Conversations" by Joab Jackson ... August 25, 2009 The New York Times article "Love That Tweets" by Lisa Bernhard ... November 2, 2009 Atlanta Journal-Constitution article "Race puts Atlanta election on national media's radar" by Kristi E. Swartz ... November 10, 2009 Duke Chronicle article "New media, new athletes" by Andy Moore ... December 7, 2009 Yahoo News: Decade in Review article "You power: The decade’s new media revolution" by Laura E. Davis ... December 20, 2009 Christian Science Monitor article "Show Me the Money" (not available online) by Gloria Goodale, cited by Cynthia Kurtz in "Show Me the Village" post in Story Colored Glasses blog ... January 8, 2010 Christian Science Monitor article "Curtains for prime time's 'Jay Leno Show'?" by Gloria Goodale and Daniel B. Wood ... January 9, 2010 Philadelphia Inquirer article "Leno was in a bind" by Jonathan Storm ... January 10, 2010 Christian Science Monitor article "NBC pulls plug on Jay Leno show's prime time experiment" by Gloria Goodale and Daniel B. Wood ... January 12, 2010 CNN.com article "Same-sex marriage and the YouTube debate" by Doug Gross ... January 12, 2010 Christian Science Monitor article "Conan O'Brien rebuffs Leno move, throws NBC late night into chaos" by Gloria Goodale and Daniel B. Wood ... January 20, 2010 Federal Computer Week article "Social media swings tight Massachusetts Senate race" by Doug Beizer ... February 5, 2010 Federal Computer Week article "Agencies on track to meet open gov deadline" by Doug Beizer ... April 2, 2010 The Globe and Mail (Toronto) article "Media players set to climb atop iPad's platform" by Susan Krashinsky ... May 15, 2010 Christian Science Monitor article "Is Greyson Chance's serendipitous YouTube rise a ruse?" by Gloria Goodale ... May 17, 2010 Los Angeles Times article "YouTube turns 5, can't wait to grow up" by Alex Pham .... June 2, 2010 (Polish) Gazeta article "YouTube robi różnicę" by Zbigniew Basara ... June 8, 2010 Christian Science Monitor article "Unsure how to vote in California primary election, many turn to Twitter" by Gloria Goodale ... June 9, 2010 Christian Science Monitor article "BP buys 'oil spill,' related Internet search terms to manage message" by Gloria Goodale ... June 25, 2010 Minneapolis Star-Tribune article "Internet drives music biz’s tween angels" by Jon Bream ... June 30, 2010 Christian Science Monitor article "With show's end, what Larry King leaves behind" by Gloria Goodale ... July 8, 2010 Christian Science Monitor article "Emmy nods" by Gloria Goodale ... July 14, 2010 Christian Science Monitorarticle "Is FCC 'running wild' with its big fines for 'fleeting expletives'?" by Gloria Goodale ... August 4, 2010 Politics Daily article "Lady Gaga: The Left's Answer to Sarah Palin?" by Suzi Parker ... August 19, 2010 Christian Science Monitor article "Google TV: Why Hollywood isn't running scared" by Gloria Goodale ... September 1, 2010 Christian Science Monitor article "The Blaze: Why did Glenn Beck really want to start a website?" by Gloria Goodale ... September 7, 2010 Christian Science Monitor article "'Restoring Truthiness': Could spoof of Glenn Beck rally happen?" by Gloria Goodale ... September 14, 2010 Reuters article "Celebrities discover the downside of Twitter" by Zorianna Kit ... September 17, 2010 Politico.com article "GOP's struggles play out on Fox" by Keach Hagey ... September 27, 2010 Politico.com article "The Fox primary: complicated, contractual" by Jonathan Martin and Keach Hagey ... October 8, 2010 Christian Science Monitor article "Katie Couric election series: A nod to Charles Kuralt or Facebook?" by Gloria Goodale ... October 13, 2010 The Daily Beast article "Current TV Plans to Reboot" by Peter Lauria ... October 25, 2010 Christian Science Monitor article "Stewart-Colbert rally aims: 1. Change politics, 2. Sell knickknacks" by Gloria Goodale ... October 27, 2010 Christian Science Monitor article "Wi-Fi, Hulu, DVR, and the end of the tube as we know it" by Matthew Shaer ... November 1, 2010 Christian Science Monitor article "Sarah Palin and Jon Stewart agree on this: News media are bad influence" by Gloria Goodale ... November 10, 2010 Christian Science Monitor article "A tepid return for Conan O'Brien: Time to rethink late-night talk?" by Gloria Goodale ... November 11, 2010 Philadelphia Inquirer article "Coco's young clique remains fervent" by Jonathan Storm ... November 18, 2010 Attacat Brain (Scotland) article "Video for Business" by Tim Attacat ... December 29, 2010 The Independent (UK) article "The Serious Side of Jon Stewart" by Guy Adams ... January 5, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "TV's Web revolution sizzles at CES 2011: Can your cable company survive?" by Gloria Goodale ... January 18, 2011 Chronicle of Higher Education article "Stanford U. Tops New Ranking of Colleges’ Influence via Twitter" by Tushar Rae andChristian Science Monitor article "Without Steve Jobs, can Apple's 'very strong bench' step up?" by Gloria Goodale ... January 19, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "Comcast-NBC Universal deal: Can company now crush its rivals?" by Gloria Goodale ... January 24, 2011 Toronto Star article "Obama address to test Washington’s spirit of civility" by Mitch Potter ... February 4, 2011 New York Daily News article "Battle to be best Super Bowl commercial 2011 already raging: Meet the contenders" by Lauren Johnston ... February 7, 2011 The Globe and Mail (Toronto) article "AOL taps into Arianna Huffington’s star power" by Susan Krashinsky ... February 13, 2011 The Journal News (Westchester, NY) article "What authors in White Plains will be reading" by Bill Cary ... February 18, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "Stephen Colbert vs. Arianna Huffington: what their spat is really about" by Gloria Goodale ... March 3, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "Charlie Sheen on Twitter: How much more damage can he do?" by Daniel B. Wood ... March 10, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "In NPR scandal, small radio stations stand to be biggest losers" by Gloria Goodale ... March 30, 2011 ABC News report "Social Media Jobs: Are They For You?" by Danielle Waugh ... March 31, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "Bad times at the box office: Is it competition, the economy, or bad films?" by Gloria Goodale ... April 1, 2011 Success Magazine article "The Facebook Age" by Sally Deneen ... April 4, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "Katie Couric and 'CBS Evening News.' Is it time for them to part ways?" by Daniel B. Wood and Gloria Goodale ... April 21, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "DirecTV: Would you pay $30 to see a new release in your living room?" by Daniel B. Wood ... May 9, 2011 Patriot Ledger article "Exploring blue highways of communication" by John Reilly ... May 13, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "Ashton Kutcher joins 'Two and a Half Men.' Will the show do better or worse?" by Daniel B. Wood and Gloria Goodale ... May 22, 2011 Miami Herald article "With Oprah gone, who is going to tell us what we think?" by Glenn Garvin ... May 22, 2011 Chicago Daily Herald article "Suburban soap fans try to save show" by Jamie Sotonoff ... June 2, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "Anthony Weiner Twitter hack? What he should have done" by Gloria Goodale ... June 26, 2011 The Sunday Times (of London) article "The daughter of Icarus [Arianna Huffington] brings her online gamble to Britain" ... June 30, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "What to do for Social Media Day? Get connected!" by Chloe Stepney ... July 11, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "Will Rupert Murdoch's woes cross the Atlantic?" by Gloria Goodale ... July 12, 2011 Newark Star-Ledger article "The Planking craze: Strike a pose -- then post" by Amy Kuperinsky ... July 28, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "Social media mayhem: when flash mobs go from benign to malign" by Gloria Goodale ... August 15, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "'Flash mobs' vs. law and order: BART protest adds fresh twist" by Daniel B. Wood ... August 16, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "BART puts social media crackdown in 'uncharted' legal territory" by Daniel B. Wood ... August 19, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "West Memphis Three: Internet campaign, Hollywood drove their release" by Brad Knickerbocker and Daniel B. Wood ... August 21, 2011 Boston Globe article "3-D TV is here! But do we really need to tune in?" by Matthew Gilbert ... September 26, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "'Lion King' success: Should Hollywood fall back in love with 3D?" by Gloria Goodale ... October 10, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "Does 'Occupy Wall Street' have leaders? Does it need any?" by Daniel B. Wood and Gloria Goodale ... October 10, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "How Netflix went wrong: Qwikster was good for company, not the customer" by Gloria Goodale ... October 18, 2011 The Daily Beast article "IndyCar Driver’s Final Moments" by Allen St. John ... October 28, 2011 techne review of Connected movie by James David Patrick ... November 24, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "How a new video uploading website could be a game-changer for Occupy Wall Street" by Daniel B. Wood ... December 8, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "Digging for political dirt? Twitter could be the source for you" by Gloria Goodale ... December 17, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "Lowe's stores face protests for pulling ads from Muslim TV show" by Daniel B. Wood ... December 19, 2011 FoxNews.com article "When Despots Are Just Like Us: Kim Jong Il Death Announced on Celebrity Site" by Jo Piazza ... December 23, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "Religiously active people more likely to engage in civic life, Pew study finds" by Gloria Goodale ... January 10, 2012 Success Magazine article "Paul Allen is No Second Act" by Sally Deneen ... January 26, 2012 European Journalism Centre Magazine article "The revolution will be televised, streamed and uploaded" by Amanda Lin Costa ... January 31, 2012 Christian Science Monitor article "Michelle Obama: Why is she going on Jay Leno?" by Daniel B. Wood ... February 6, 2012 Christian Science Monitor article "Was Madonna Super Bowl half-time show obscene?" by Gloria Goodale and Daniel B. Wood ... first mention of New New Media 2nd edition February 14, 2012 Politico article "Fox 'course correction' rankles some" by Keach Hagey and February 15, 2012 Mediaite article "Some Conservatives Are Upset Over Fox News’ Alleged Move To The Left" by Nando Di Fino ... February 23, 2012 Christian Science Monitor article "National Enquirer ignites furor with Whitney Houston casket photo" by Daniel B. Wood ... March 5, 2012 Christian Science Monitor article "Los Angeles Times joins the crowd, erects pay wall for the news online" by Gloria Goodale ... March 15, 2012 Christian Science Monitor article "Steve Martin tweets 10 funniest tweets not tweeted by Steve Martin" by Daniel B. Wood ... March 17, 2012 Forbes article "Five Tips to Tweet to the Millions Like Steve Martin" by Anthony Wing Kosner ... March 18, 2012 Scotsman article "Cashmore by name, cashmore by nature" by Martyn McLaughlin ... March 22, 2012 FoxNews.com article "Robert Downey Jr. denies he is anonymous commenter spreading Hollywood dirt in blind items" by Jo Piazza ... March 25, 2012 Daily Mail article "Poison of the Twitter trolls" by Paul Scott ... April 3, 2012 Christian Science Monitor article "Katie Couric vs. Sarah Palin: why battle for morning show supremacy is so hot" by Gloria Goodale ... April 6, 2012 Christian Science Monitor article "'Bully' downgraded to PG-13 as ratings system assailed from all sides" by Gloria Goodale ... April 12, 2012 Christian Science Monitor article "'Caine's Arcade': sweet film starring pint-size entrepreneur goes viral (+video)" by Gloria Goodale ... April 16, 2012 Mashable article "What Apple’s Ebook Fiasco Means for Amazon and the Book Business" by Peter Pachal ... July 12, 2012 Christian Science Monitor article "Biggest loser in DirecTV-Viacom feud? Both." by Gloria Goodale ... August 1, 2012 Christian Science Monitor article "Gore Vidal: a celebrity, a life writ large" by Daniel B. Wood ... August 30, 2012 Fordham Notes "Changes In Media Landscape Reflected in New Edition of Professor’s Book" article by Patrick Verel ... August 31, 2012 Reuters article "Eastwood, empty chair hijack Republican media coverage" by Jill Serjeant and Piya Sinha-Roy ... September 10, 2012 Christian Science Monitor article "Did 'No Easy Day' author compromise US security on '60 Minutes'?" by Daniel B. Wood ...September 14, 2012 NPR's Marketplace "Did pop culture embrace Occupy Wall Street?" interview by Dan Bobkoff ... September 19, 2012 Fordham Observer article "Colbert Media Blackout Broken by Tweets by Harry Huggins ... December 11, 2012 Christian Science Monitor article "New UC logo: Marketing blunder? Or is storm of criticism overblown?" by Daniel B. Wood ... January 8, 2013 Register Citizen article "The politics and economics of information on cable television" by Andy Thibault ... March 30, 2013 Maclean's article "Must-see TV or Mandatory Diversity?" by Emma Teitel ... April 23, 2013 Christian Science Monitor article "False tweet sinks stock market. Is anyone checking this stuff?" by Gloria Goodale ... April 30, 2013 Pure Politics cn/2 article "In the age of 'viral' political ads, who can trust politicians' numbers?" by Jacqueline Pitt ... May 10, 2013 Associated Press article "Moms On Facebook: How Mothers And Kids Keep In Touch On The Social Network" by Martha Mendoza ... May 26, 2013 Christian Science Monitor article "Why You Should Do Absolutely Nothing This Memorial Day" by Daniel B. Wood ... May 30, 2013 Christian Science Monitor article "Is 'Arrested Development' a dud?" by Daniel B. Wood ... July 12, 2013 BBC Culture article "The Internship: One long ad for Google?" by Tom Brook ... August 1, 2013 Christian Science Monitor article "Is President Obama helping Amazon take over the universe?" by Gloria Goodale ... August 2, 2013 Christian Science Monitor article "Why Rolling Stone boycott backfired, as Tsarnaev cover flies off shelves" by Gloria Goodale ... August 6, 2013 Christian Science Monitor article "Washington Post sale a sign respected brands will matter, even online" by Gloria Goodale ... August 8, 2013 Christian Science Monitor article "Cable wars: Time Warner and CBS head into Week 2 of standoff" by Daniel B. Wood and Gloria Goodale ... August 13, 2013 MSN Money article "Time to pick up a newspaper stock?" by Michael Brush ... August 21, 2013 Associated Press article "Facebook Aims to Get the World OnLine" by Barbara Ortutay ... March 10, 2014 Christian Science Monitor article "'Cosmos': Can Fox reboot shine amid 'billions and billions' of options?" by Gloria Goodale ... April 2, 2014 Pocono Record article "Northampton Community College Twitter trolls feed on outrage" by Christina Tatu ... April 8, 2014 Christian Science Monitor article "'Game of Thrones': Why the Buzz is So Big" by Gloria Goodale ... April 10, 2014 Christian Science Monitor article "Stephen Colbert to take over 'Late Show.' But who is Stephen Colbert, really?" by Gloria Goodale ... April 15, 2014 Christian Science Monitor article "Google Glass: Who pays $1,500 to be an 'explorer' and why?" by Gloria Goodale ... June 2, 2014 Christian Science Monitor article "FBI manhunt via social media?" by Gloria Goodale ... October 16, 2014 Christian Science Monitor article "First HBO, then CBS offer streaming" by Daniel Wood ... November 11, 2014 New York Post article "Overexposed celebs: Give it a breast!" by Alev Aktar ... February 11, 2015 Christian Science Monitor article "Beyond Jon Stewart" by Gloria Goodale ... June 27, 2016 Media Matters article "Media Experts Rip CNN For 'Profoundly Disturbing' Lewandowski Hiring" by Joe Strupp ... July 21, 2016 Associated Press article "Roger Ailes out as head of Fox News"... August 16, 2016 The Hill article "Networks brace for decision on Trump-Clinton debate refs" by Joe Concha ... August 27, 2016 Newsday article "Presidential debate panel faces ‘challenge’ in selecting moderators by" Yancey Roy ... September 15, 2016 Inside Higher Ed article "The Value of Media" by Syd Steinhardt ... September 20, 2016 Parade article "Why We Love Longmire, Heartland and Westerns In General" by Rachel Weingarten ... September 20, 2016 The Hill article "Trump-Clinton debate expected to shatter records" by Joe Concha ... =on radio=September 2, 2009, interviewed by Mike McConnell, 700 WLW Radio
Cincinnati, listen to podcast here ... September 15, 2009, interviewed on the Kojo Nnamdi NPR show, listen to podcast here ... throughout the day, September 20-21, 2009, segments of a 50-min interview on KNX Radio, Los Angeles ... October 8, 2009, interviewed by Barna Donovan and Ernabel Demillo, Culture Wars, WSPC Radio, Jersey City, NJ, listen to podcast here ... January 19, 2010, interviewed by Fred W. Hoffman, KCPS Radio, Burlington, Iowa, listen to podcast here ... February 24, 2010, interviewed by Gordon White, Social Media Podcast, Edinburgh, Scotland, listen here ... January 24, 2011, interviewed by Janet Babin on Marketplace, NPR, listen to podcast and read transcript here ... July 19, 2011, interviewed by Phillip Adams on LateNightLive, ABC National Radio (Australia), listen to podcast here ... July 21, 2011, interviewed by Brian Lehrer on WNYC, NPR, listen to podcast here ... July 21, 2011, interviewed by Jim Fleming on To the Best of our Knowledge, Wisconsin Public Radio, listen to podcast here ... August 17, 2011, Voice of RussiaRadio, interviewed about flash mobs and democracy ... October 6, 2011, At Issue, Wisconsin Public Radio, interviewed by Bill Merens about Steve Jobs (1 hour), listen to podcast here ... October 16, 2011 Steele Talkin, WCCO Radio (CBS all-news, Minnesota), interviewed by Jearlyn Steele about social media, Occupy Wall Street, political bullying (1 hour), listen to podcast here ... March 9, 2012 Joy Cardin, Wisconsin Public Radio, interview by Gene Purcell about new new media and political protest (30 mins), listen to podcast here ... July 9, 2012 Joy Cardin, Wisconsin Public Radio, interview about New New Media, 2nd edition (60 mins), listen to
podcast here ... =on television= December 10, 2009, on Fox Business Channel, Is AOL Obsolete? see video ... February 9, 2010, on NY Nightly News, Mainstream vs. New New Media Coverage of Gov. David Paterson NY Times "story," interview by Chuck Scarborough and Melissa Russo, see video ... March 8, 2010, on Fordham Nightly News, How I Came to Write New New Media, and more, interview by Tom Gallagher, see video ... October 14, 2010, on Quarrymen News, "MyBodega Agency," interview by Tom Gallagher, see video ... May 22, 2011, on NBC Nightly News, "O-shaped hole opening in fans hearts" I talk about Oprah Winfrey's significance (1:36-1:44 into video), see video ... July 16, 2012, on PBS WNET-TV "One on One" with Steve Adubato, 7-minute interview about New New Media, 2nd edition, see video ... July 27, 2013, on BBC World "Talking about Movies" with Tom Brook (I start about 50 secs into video), see video ... September 7, 2014: talking about Celebrity Photo Hacking, on Arise TV, see videoReviews
- by Robert K. Blechman, in Blogcritics:
Levinson’s down-to-earth discussion of the “new new” media is an effective introduction to the impact of cyberspace structures and institutions on our current media environment.
Levinson writes from his own experience, shares his own anecdotes, and delivers his theories based on his own first-hand evidence in a voice that is equal parts scholarly and conversational.... New New Media is an excellent resource for anyone wanting to learn about the current configuration of multimedia options.
This is the missing textbook to the course that everyone is taking .... an excellent primer for thoughtful engagement with the unfolding culture .... If there is a Luddite on your gift-giving list, New New Media would be an excellent choice.
“New New Media” fills a significant void in the discussion of Mass Media .... other books gesture at the origins and importance of the newest forms of media but simply fail to engage new social media as meaningfully or provocatively as Levinson’s book does .... More than any other examination of the subject I have seen, Levinson’s “New New Media" was written to help foster the imaginings of the possibilities of those new media in the widest audience. Those familiar with the new social media will have their assumptions challenged. Those unfamiliar with them will find the book to be a provocative introduction to the ways the newest forms of social media have been and could be used .... Levinson’s book was provocative for myself and my students and served as an excellent starting point for many class discussions .... If Levinson sees the ultimate goal of theorizing about these new social media as securing a new social imaginary where each individual has not just the right to free speech but also the opportunity and capability to exercise his or her individual voice in a medium accessible to the entire world then “New New Media” could be considered the cornerstone.
But does doubling the adjective of new media mean we’re just dealing in doubletalk? My friend Chuck who teaches at Boston’s Northeastern University, would say no. Last August, he expressed a frustration to me when he asked, “Why do people insist on calling computers and the Net ‘new’ media? I mean, they’ve been around for a couple decades now.” Chuck isn’t alone in his thinking. A Fordham professor and author, Paul Levinson, has just written a new book called, New New Media...
... if you want to understand the Brave New World, Levinson’s book wouldn’t be a bad place to start.
-by Bradley E. Wiggins, in Journal of Communications Media Studies, Fall 2010
New New Media is definitely a fine choice for media enthusiasts, students, professionals, or basically for anyone who would like to have a physical
reference or starting point for the ever-expanding and regenerative field of media and communications.
-by Paul Soukup, in Communication Research Trends, 2011, vol 30 no 1:
... a good place to start on new media, with an experienced guide.
... does a really good job of defining what exactly is 'new' about these platforms and how they are changing the way we communicate and interact online.
Here are some early milestones in my writing of the first edition of this book:
May 10, 2008: I'm pleased to announce that I signed a contract with a great company - Penguin/Pearson, Allyn & Bacon - for publication of my next nonfiction book, in 2009: New New Media.This is my first nonfiction book since Cellphone: The Story of the World's Most Mobile Medium was published by Palgrave/St. Martin's in 2004.
New New Media looks at blogging, YouTube, Wikipedia, Digg, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, podcasting, Second Life, iPhones, and other key examples of media in which consumers are producers, and the results are changing all aspects of our lives, from the way we watch television to how we chose our President.
I'll give you more details as I write the book, which I just started doing last week.
***23 February 2009: New New Media completed and sent off to Pearson, Allyn & Bacon. Expected publication date, 1 September 2009. I'll be adding the name Index to this post, and will keep you up to date on the publication progress of the book, and where I'll be talking about it, signing copies, etc once it's published...
****27 April 2009: first look at the cover!
Joan Walsh, Editor-in-Chief of Salon.com, says
Paul Levinson takes you on a walking tour – actually, it's more like a running tour – of the media innovations that are transforming our world. He's not just a scholar, he's an explorer, immersing himself in MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and multiple blogging platforms to help us make sense of the galloping changes in media. Have we entered a glorious new era of media democracy, or are these innovations leveling standards of fairness and authority? Levinson remains an optimist without being blind to the dark side of change. Whether you want to learn to blog, podcast or Twitter yourself, or just keep track of the way such tools are remaking the world around you, the "New New Media" is an indispensable guide.
Jeff Jarvis, Director of New Media Program, City University of New
York's Graduate School of Journalism; Founder, Entertainment Weekly; Creator, BuzzMachine blog, says
Paul Levinson provides an invaluable and encyclopaedic guide to the newest of new media invented so far.
Mignon Fogarty, creator of the award-winning Grammar Girl podcast, and author of the New York Times bestseller Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing , says
Insightful and comprehensive. The overviews are great for people who want to quickly get up-to-speed on the entire landscape or more experienced Web addicts who want to branch out, and the anecdotes and history will delight people who consider themselves old-timers.
***28 May 2009: Corrected copy-edits of New New Media sent off to publisher!
****24 June 2009: I'm interviewed by John Munson for 40 minutes on Wisconsin Public Radio about new new media in Iran and the world. Listen here.
*****18 June 2010: New New Media goes into second printing! Publication of new, revised edition set for Summer 2012!
And here's a taste of the book in the 20-minute interview Mark Molaro did with me on The Alcove, November 2007 ...
Tyrant made a compelling debut on FX last night, with an especially excellent three-part twist at the end of the episode to set up the series.
Cincinnati, listen to podcast 
