Insights into the Cyrus Circus

School's back.  Time for somebody to do something shocking at the Video Music Awards.  Nothing new.  The shock is how reports of the evening overshadowed international events. 

Jonathan Mann, who posts a song a day on YouTube, wrote a great song about the week.  About how war in Syria seems imminent but look!  Miley Cyrus' tongue!  And it appears Fukushima is worse than we thought but hey!  The President got a new dog!  For Jonathan, that last one was not a political statement; he rather likes the President.  It was a what's-going-on-with-the-media statement.  I would love to share his brilliant song but the video includes footage of Miley's VMA performance and that should never be seen again by anyone.  Not because it's foul but because we should all want better for Miley.     

So.  The press.  What happened?  Why were they at a club when they should've been at work?  The only answer with any ring of truth actually came from the satire site The Onion.  They ran a fake editorial attributed to actual CNN Managing Editor Meredith Artley  (She confirmed on twitter that she's not the author; it's a parody.)  The setup may be fake but the content is spot on.  Take a moment to read Let Me Explain Why Miley Cyrus’ VMA Performance Was Our Top Story This Morning.  

Advertising.  It drives the content we see everywhere.  Many creative minds are working to take away ad power and give it to creators.  They are funding their work up front on sites like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo.  But these options are project-based and don't allow for subscriptions. 

Hank and John Green, known on YouTube as the Vlogbrothers, wanted to fill that void.  They'd been given funds by YouTube to create a science show but the grant runs out in January and they want to keep the show going.  So these co-founders of VidCon created a site called Subbable, where fans can pay to keep their favorite shows ad-free.  This model may not be the one that ultimately delivers us from Google and Nielsen, but it's a line in the sand.  With projects like this (and there are others -- Jonathan Mann is part of one, though I can't find the name of it on his site) soon advertisers will be courting creators instead of the other way around.  I don't know how that will play out for news providers, but it will.