Fake Journalism

My boat. Note the storm anchor in the
yellow bag. Such anchors can save
your life in rough weather.

Several days ago a tragic boating accident on Bear Lake in northern Utah claimed the lives of four people. Two girls were able to swim six miles through a life threatening storm to safety. They claim they survived by singing hymns and praying. The news show Good Morning America got wind of the disaster and thought it would be a good story for their viewers–with minor modifications.

They contacted the surviving girls and posted the following report:

Two Girls Survive

Note that at approximately 1:10 into the news story a video of the Disney movie Nemo is shown. The announcer claims the girls survived by singing songs from Nemo. A heartwarming story except the girls did not sing Disney show tunes while battling for their lives.

One of the parents wrote on a Facebook page, "if you watched the interview you will know that it states that a song from the Disney Movie saved their lives and showed a clip of Dori and Marlan singing the "Keep on Swimming" song. As much as I like Nemo, it had nothing to do with these girls survival". So is the video clip news or a product placement masquerading as a news story?

Why would a news agency owned by the Disney Corporation insert a video clip of Nemo, an obvious conflict of interest, and claim Disney Show tunes saved their lives?

For those of us who monitor the increasingly absurd behavior of corporate manipulation this example of using misfortune as a sales opportunity is nothing more than a tragic footnote in the devolution of American journalism.

Brad Teare–June 2015

Banned by YouTube? Try this

Several years ago I wrote a blog about a comic project I was writing. I had the usual fan mail and the project was moving forward smoothly. I had another art related blog that was doing extremely well. Until one day I received an email from Google saying my blogs and YouTube channel were banned from Adsense. They gave no reason why. I still have no idea what the problem was.

It was wrong for them to ban me with no opportunity to remedy the situation. I emailed them repeatedly and got responses from robots but no resolution of the problem. They simply stated they had no obligation to respond to me.

A few months later I learned about Gbox–a new venue for video creators. It promises to be better than YouTube. I'm very enthused about their service. If you think it's important for Google and YouTube to have some competition and you believe in honesty for both customer and service provider you should try Gbox. I have been very pleased with their business plan even though at this point they are still in Beta mode.

If you've been banned by YouTube and Google give Gbox a try. Other than having an account I have no affiliation with Gbox. See my videos below. Please note that some of my videos are free–just find a free one in the thumbnail viewer below the main video image. Best wishes with your blogging and filming success.

Brad Teare–January 2015

Welcome to the New World

Why is the new world so similar to the old world? Why do few workers telecommute? Why are electric vehicles not embraced in sufficient numbers to diminish pollution? Why are employers not allowing flexible hours and job sharing? In the coming year I will explore the obstacles preventing these revolutions and why the new world is so similar to the old one.

Some things do change. As of January 1, 2014 I will be using my iPhone to post to this site. I will be using the voice recognition feature to type all of the entries and all images will be processed on the iPhone on-the-fly.

But new modes of blogging are hardly enough. In the communications revolution those who communicate best prevail. Let's make a new world.

Brad Teare January 2014

The End of Suburbia (as we know it)

Why can't modern architecture express a more vivacious and diverse collective personality? Is the stripped-down, Brutalist, and Bauhaus aesthetic serving the spiritual and emotional needs of modern humanity? Are we entirely subject to the brutality of cheap design? Is there a place for multiple schools of architectural thought? For those of us who hope for a communal approach to more diverse and pluralistic culture I created this blog.

I hope this blog will attract like-minded thinkers who will engage in active discussion about how we can use modern approaches and construction methods to build more aesthetically pleasing communities.

Thank you in advance for joining this discussion.

Brad Teare November 2013