Vin Crosbie's Personal Blog

For his business blog, visit http://www.digitaldeliverance.com

27 Years in the News Business

Ah, I’m entering my 27th year in the news industry. I started as a reporter covering cops, fires, and courts for a small daily newspaper in Connecticut. Later, I worked for the old UPI, Reuters, and News Corp. My thanks to Prof. Ben Compaine who at the start of the 1980s interested me in the potential of new media and to venture capitalist Jon Gilbert who in 1993 brought me into new media full-time. I’ve never regretted that move. (By the way, I don’t think the Connecticut State Police really minded that I didn’t return my police pass after 1979 ended. Indeed, I felt it odd being nearly invulnerable to speeding and other motor vehicle infractions during those years. The police departments of many towns and state police barracks knew my auto and wouldn’t stop it in speed traps. Only once was I pulled over, when I was late for work and driving 85 m.p.h. on a 45 m.p.h. rural road. The officer, rather than asking me for my driver’s license and vehicle registration, said , “Has anyone told you the problem we in the police union are having with management?” and gave me a story. Oh, to be a police reporter again!)

Some of My Recent Work

(The original was released on PR Newswire this morning.) TV Search Provider Critical Mention Inks Marketing Partnership with MacNeil/Lehrer Productions MacNeil/Lehrer Expands Paid Distribution Opportunities and Extends Brand Through Partnership With Critical Mention New York – April 26, 2005 – Critical Mention, Inc., the leading Web-based television search and monitoring service for corporate communications and business intelligence professionals, today announced a marketing partnership with MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, producers of the PBS program NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. Under the agreement, MacNeil/Lehrer Productions will receive a partnership fee based on the usage of clips from NewsHour with Jim Lehrer within Critical Mention’s TV search services. This relationship underlines Critical Mention’s commitment to partnering with the world’s most prominent broadcast and cable news providers to help them expand their content distribution and generate revenue in online applications. “Besides providing business and government leaders with the most comprehensive online TV search service available today, it is our goal to extend the model to enable content producers and broadcasters to participate in the explosive revenue opportunities of aggregated video search.” said Sean Morgan, CEO of Critical Mention. “We look forward to providing MacNeil/Lehrer Productions with new revenue opportunities as video search and related services become pervasive online.” Close to 3 million people tune in to The NewsHour each weeknight (1.1 HH rating) and close to 8 million unduplicated viewers watch at least one night a week. In addition, the Erdos & Morgan Opinion Leader survey ranks The NewsHour first among all television news programs as the most credible, most objective, most influential and most current news program on television. “People look to the NewsHour to get the full story and information about what’s going on in the world. We’re very pleased to have Critical Mention distributing our program to corporate and government organizations in a new way,” said Dan Werner, president of MacNeil/Lehrer Productions. About Critical Mention Critical Mention Inc., the most comprehensive Web-based television search and broadcast monitoring service, is changing the way corporate communications and business intelligence professionals search, track and view critical information from television news. The company’s CriticalTV platform provides real-time monitoring and email alerts for organizations that require up-to-the-minute news about their company, customers and competitors. CriticalTV allows users to easily find a video clip online immediately after its broadcast; instantly share the clip within a workgroup via secure video-email or a private video gallery; and order a professional transcript or […]