NBC Confuses Terry and Michael J. Fox

As a student participating in the online public sphere, I think it is important to make use of my alternative media channel as I am inspired, but most importantly, when mainstream news outlets report poorly. (Which I guess does inspire me ;). According to Henry Jenkins, alternative media (like YouTube) have an essential place in our contemporary culture when it can challenge the mainstream (as do blogs). In his article titled Nine Propositions Toward a Cultural Theory of YouTube, Jenkins states that on YouTube, “Amateur curators assess value of commercial content and re-present it for various niche communities of consumers”.

In this case, the commercial content I am choosing to highlight is footage of NBC discussing who will be participating in opening ceremonies. In the footage, not only does the reporter confuse Michael J. Fox’s name in place of Terry Fox, but the network even shows a picture of Michael J. Fox after the reporter has spoken about Terry and his mother. No more comments needed here, other than- HOW ON EARTH DO YOU CONFUSE THOSE TWO? You just don't... especially when you are NBC. Thank goodness alternative media caught this mistake, because it needs to be pointed out for the sake of Terry Fox’s memory. I have yet to find an article or any correction from NBC apologizing for this outrageous error. Here’s the clip.

I do want to take this time to link to the foundations related to both Terry Fox and Michael J. Fox. Please check out the Terry Fox Foundation for Cancer Research and the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.

Sharing Your Love Online

Having spent most of our class time thus far discussing participatory media with respect to journalism and democracy, I wanted to highlight another amazing way that social media is often used for – posting and sharing personal, user-generated content. Last year, a hilarious and witty YouTube video went viral called the JK Wedding Dance where a very creative bride and groom choreographed a funny dance to replace the traditional wedding procession. Their idea was so clever that even The Office (US) replicated it in the episode Pam and Jim got married. Imagine your wedding video having millions of views, but then being copied by one of the most popular shows on television – talk about a great start to your marriage!

But now another couple has risen to their occasion. Jeff Wong and Erin Martin, a recently engaged couple decided to share their engagement news and send a “Save the Date” message, but in a way that is hysterically representative of the current growing online participatory culture. Using a mash-up of them parodying famous action movie trailers (remixing culture) along with pictures from the last 10 years of their relationship, Jeff and Erin produced a movie trailer-inspired “Save the Date” YouTube video. Check it out.

If you did not notice, the video above is not the YouTube version of the Save the Date. When attempting to access the couple’s viral video on YouTube, the video had been changed to private, meaning the hundred or thousands of citizen media journalists who had already linked to their video to share the love now had defunct videos on their sites. It is presumed that when several mainstream news outlets and online bloggers began featuring the short film, the couple decided they wanted to keep their engagement private from the curious world and changed their YouTube privacy settings. But as we all know about social media, once you click that post button your content is out for the online world to view and in this case, many sites copied Jeff and Erin’s video for future use making the privacy settings on the original YouTube video irrelevant. My last post discussed the threat of not having control over your online identity and this is another situation where that couple now has minimal control over theirs. Fortunately, it’s an incredible idea that will grant them 15 minutes of fame (or if they’re lucky, longer like The Office’s adaptation of ‘JK’s Wedding Dance’). One lesson to keep in mind though – don’t underestimate the power of your creativity. This couple obviously did not expect the vast media attention about the personal clip they created, so be sure when posting your own content that you assume anyone will be able see it.