Los Angeles, CA—The platform recently announced new terms of service concerning videos related to firearms education. These new censorship measures are driven by ignorance and emotion. The controversy and politics surrounding guns are often misunderstood, even by the well-educated. Meanwhile, other significant societal issues like drug abuse, DUI, and various tools of violence receive far less attention. Guns have been increasingly glamorized by violent movies and video games. Neal Mohan, a 50-year-old Indiana native of Indian descent with an MBA, is currently at the helm of YouTube. He is navigating the platform amidst loud public outcry, leading to what many see as a sociological disaster. YouTube enjoys legal immunity, allowing it to selectively publish content unless Congress or the courts intervene. Content creators are increasingly frustrated with YouTube's algorithms, which direct viewers to and away from specific videos. Erratic monetization decisions can devastate ...

Los Angeles, CA —I’ve worked in TV news as an investigative freelancer for nearly 30 years.  I never sought nor obtained a formal journalism education but was drafted into TV news strictly for my investigative ability.  I was lucky to be given a, second to none, on the job journalism education by many gifted reporters, producers, media lawyers  and TV news consultants.  For the last 15 years I’ve watched the slow death of news, as we knew it.   News consumers have left broadcast and print news in droves. They’ve escaped to Internet bloggers and vloggers for their information.   Left behind are the folks that simply never learned computers or even smart phones.   Because they’re technophobes they’ve become a captive audience for television and print news.   Then there are the illiterate and poor.   Few of these folks are great targets for advertisers other than drug and reverse mortgage companies. I think print is failing as society ...

Los Angeles, CA — YouTube has changed entertainment and news in a big way.    It’s brought the true democratization of mass media allowing virtually anyone to create, and broadcast whatever he or she desires.   Saying that, there are those issues related to what content gets special behind the scenes promotion by YouTube.   There is a lot of trash mixed in with some stunning content.   YouTube is  also a training ground for those that want to shape and hone their skills. Music lovers routinely steal or borrow music content created by others for their video’s soundtracks. This has created copyright pandemonium.   However it’s not really a bad thing for the artists. In fact new exposure of forgotten music of decades gone by has boosted legitimate sales! I’m a chronic music thief!   I do it because I fail to see the harm and I don’t get punished.   More importantly I need great music for the videos I create.   There is copyright fre...

Los Angeles, CA —Like most of my blog visitors I love music.   I have my favorites from Gershwin to The Doors .   The artists that have entertained me deserve all of the reward for their work.   Every musical recording is a labor involving numerous people that worked so hard to create. The music industry exists because of intellectual property rights.   Without these rights so many of the hits we enjoy everyday may never have pleased our ears. My video host  YouTube has settled most copyright issues with the use of music within the USA.   Advertising and iTunes links have solved many of the problems. There was also a surprising discovery made by the copyright holders in the form of increased sales when a video featuring their products was popular legitimate sales of the music increased too.   Old forgotten hits suddenly were reanimated into moneymaking popularity once again! As many of my visitors know I’m into the camera drone technolog...

Stephanie Carrie will make you laugh for sure! Los Angeles, CA —Most of my visitors know that among other things I’m an actor too.  I met Stephanie Carrie when I attended Tom Todoroff’s  Acting Studio here and made some other life long friends along the way.  Nearly every one of Tom’s students has some kind of TV or film credits but making the coveted A list is really tough.   We've all learned that even the best talent does not translate to fortune and fame.  It’s more about having a very effective agent.  It also boils down to the agent selecting the you as their talent and not then other way around.  Carrie is an actress, singer, writer and comedian.  Like everyone she struggled and paid her dues.  She also recently started a web series.   Carrie has a YouTube channel and put something up yesterday that caught my eye.  It’s a satirical parody of the crisis in the Ukraine and that thin-skinned Russ...

Austin, TX —Recently I’ve joined the GoPro camera aficionados in a big way.  I’ve also learned that YouTube has some terrific tutorials for almost anything.  So I went searching for ways to best exploit my GoPros (so far I have two).  I found Mitch Bergsma’s  YouTube channel and began watching this fellow’s fine instructional videos.  Most of his videos have no sound nor does he speak.   Nonetheless I’m learning a lot from the video tips he provides.  Bergsma is young, athletic, incredibly creative and happens to be stone deaf!  Having suffered a somewhat serious hearing loss in recent years I’m fortunate in that I’ve been helped with hearing aids that allow me to function quite normally. Bergsma who was born deaf has also been helped with hearing aids but prefers to work without them.  It’s obvious that he’s adapted very well at a time before the hearing aids were improved as they are today.  Let me be the firs...

Chicago, IL —Our commercial aircraft carriers have had cockpit voice recorders to analyze aircraft accidents for decades. The pilots union zealously guards that the use of the recordings is for only accident investigation. The contents of the recordings can’t be used for any other purpose. In an effort to sort out the wide range of highly fictional accounts of police/violator contacts administrators are putting video/voice recorders in police vehicles. Suspects and sometimes police have been known to “recreate” events in courtrooms and sometimes lives are ruined by what the juries and judges choose to believe. In a perfect world nobody would ever tell lies especially under oath. The fact is if the mouths of humans are moving, they’re probably telling lies. That’s especially true of police/violator contacts. If the conversations in police vehicles were recorded and made public cops would always be in trouble. The already high police divorce statistics would be off the charts and the...

As our mainstream broadcast and print media fades off to the sunset, YouTube has risen. Yes, YouTube is a free for all but it’s free speech at its best. Those video moments of politicians misleading Americans can be counted on being replayed the very second memories begin to fade. These days political or corporate corruption can’t seem to escape exposure on YouTube. If the mainstream media chooses to keep the public in the dark, YouTube citizen reporters and producers fill that vast void. Free speech is the very cornerstone to our free society. As a staunch and unyielding Second Amendment supporter I can say the computer keyboard and the video camera are mightier than the sword. Each right protects the other. The Internet is a natural enemy to dictators and despots. We must fight to keep it free or they will tax and regulate it out of existence. The camera and the keyboard are not tools for the exclusive use of Conservatives or Liberals. If you don’t have a video camera get one! ...