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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE The Re-emergence of the West Coast Sound INGLEWOOD, Calif. - April 9, 2009 - J. Bizness, Los Angeles winner and national finalist of Red Bull Big Tune2008, readies the release of his debut hip hop instrumental album. The album titled Reason: Beats & Pieces is set to release under the artist's own imprint Illregular Instrumentals, LLC. online for digital distribution only, on iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, and Napster on June 9, 2009. Amidst several budding artists hailing from the West Coast, with music blurring the sounds between genres,eras, and regions, a familiar yet modern sound emerges from newcomer J. Bizness. Solely using Propellerhead's Reason program, J. Bizness produces Reason: Beats & Pieces; a masterful work that displaysthe wide spectrum that is hip hop. With dark tracks like "PBS" to soulful samples like "Choppy", this debut album exhibits the versatility of his talent. Heavily influenced by producers like DJ Battlecat, DJ Premier, andJ. Dilla, J. Bizness takes a fresh approach to creating music using unconventional sounds while marrying them to the classic West Coast flavor. J. Bizness has worked with the lauded underground Los Angeles emcee, Trek Life and was featured on his2006 release "The Price I've Paid" amongst notable producers as DJ Babu, Evidence and DJ Rhetmattic, in which he produced and co-wrote 2 tracks. He was also featured on the 2003 release "Heaven Cent" by Prophit P.A.N.I.C., earning a nod for the Independent Hip Hop Artist of the Year at the Los Angeles Music Awards. Catch J. Bizness and the Red Bull Big Tune Beat Battle National Finals that will be televised this Saturday, April 11, 7:30 PT/ET on BET.

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Assignment6:

MobileDevicesGiveRisetoCitizenJournalismandCatalyzeAdaptationof

TraditionalMedia

LeahWilson

InternetConsumerBehavior

ProfessorCroll

August28,2009

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NedaAghaSoltan.ThatisthenameoftheyoungPersianwomanwhosefatal

shootingbyIrangovernmentsniperswasrecordedonacameraphonebyanearby

onlooker anduploaded toYouTube (Feel theFight, 2009).Thevideowasviewed,

shared, tweeted, and reported by millions of outraged citizens and journalists

aroundtheworld,gaininganewawarenessof thecivilunrestanddeplorableacts

committed by the government in the country of Iran. The brutal killing of Neda,

whosenamemeans,“TheCall”,hadsuchaprofoundandunsettlingreachtoIranian

government officials, that they forbade her family to give her a proper Islamic

funeral, “for fear of creating a figure that could unite and revive the battered

opposition”(Talt&Weaver,2009).Additionally,furtherexacerbatingthesituation,

all mosques in the country were banned from initiating collective prayers in her

name (picturephoning.com, 2009). It has been speculated that Neda might have

beentargetedforusinghermobilephone,whichwasthoughtofas“Westernway”

and “the opposition'smost important tools” (Talt &Weaver, 2009). Although the

circumstancessurroundingherbrutalmurderareunclear,onemusttakenoteofthe

irony of the possibility that the very tool that might have provoked her

victimization,wasthesametoolthatwillresultinherlivingforeverasasymbolof

freedom.

OthersubsequentprotestsinIranandseveralpastglobaleventssuchasthe

2005LondonSubwayterroristbombings,the2008Mumbaiterroristattacksand

Chineseearthquake,haveallbeendocumentedbyprofessionaljournalistsand

everydaycitizensalike(Thornton,2009).Smartphonesandtheirintegrated

technologiesandapplicationssuchasadigitalcamera,Twitterapplications,video

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publishing/streamingcapabilitiesinconjunctionwithmoblogsandseveraluser‐

generated‐contentsitesallhavemadethisdevicethecatalysttotheriseofwhatis

knownas“citizenjournalism”(Zeigler,2006).Therearehundredsofdefinitionsas

towhatcharacterizes“citizenjournalism”,buttoputitconcisely,itis“whenthe

peopleformerlyknownastheaudienceemploythepresstoolstheyhaveintheir

possessiontoinformoneanother…”(Rosen,2008).

Howimpactfuliscitizenjournalismtotraditionalmediaorganizations?Just

visitNewspaperDeathWatch,awebsitededicatedto“ChroniclingtheDeclineof

NewspapersandtheRebirthofJournalism”(NewspaperDeathWatch).Ithasan

RIPsectionofalreadydissolvedpublications,a“WIP”sectionforpublicationson

theirwaytoadirtnap,andevena“LayoffTickerTape”thattracksrecentlayoffs

fromnewspapersaroundtheU.S..AccordingtoaQ2reportreleasedAugust27,

2009bytheNewspaperAssociationofAmerica,advertisingsales,themainsource

ofnewspaperrevenue,weredown29%,“leavingpublisherswith$2.8billionless

revenuethantheyhadatthesametimelastyear”(Liedtke,2009).Advertising

revenueforprintedpubllicationshavebeenconsistentlydecliningoverthelast12

quarters,eachquarterintensified.Althoughonlineadvertsingsalesdeclinedby7%,

from$6.5billionto$5.5billion,thedeclinewasnotasnearlyasdrasticasthat

sufferedbythenewspapers,beingthatadvertisersareshiftingtheirbudgetsto

focusontheinternet(Musil,2009).

Itisafairassumptiontosaythatcitizenjournalism,enabledbyuser‐generated‐

contentsites,isthemostdubiousculpritinthe“deathofthenewspaper”.

Inaracetodevelopanewandprofitablebusinessmodel,severalmedia

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outletsareadaptingandembracingtheresourcesthatcitizenjournalistshaveto

offerandarepreparingtotransitionintoatimeof“superiorcommunity

conversation”(Alterman,2008).Inthearticle“The11LayersofCitizenJournalism”,

writerSteveOutingidentifiedseveralwayspublishersandeditorshave,couldor

shouldincorporatecitizenjournalismintotheirwebsitesandlegacymedia,“from

dippingatoeintothewatersofparticipatoryjournalismtoembracingcitizen

reportingwithyourorganization'sfullinvolvement”(Outing,2005).News

organizationsmaychoosetoextendahandbyutilizingsocialmediasites,suchas

theinstancewhereDatelineNBCcreatedaFacebookgroupsolicitingfriendsofthe

VirginiaTechShooterto“helpshare”theirstory(rambam,2007).Or,anevenbigger

stepmaybetakenasdonebyCNNwhentheycreatedtheirownuser‐generated

newshubatiReport.com(Kafka,2009).

Regardlessofhowmediaorganizationsintegratecitizenjournalismintotheir

ownoutlets,theirsignificanceandinfluencecanneitherbedeniednorignored.As

putplainlybyRachelSterne,founderofcitizenjournalismsiteGroundReport,“[The

citizenjournalismmovement]willonlygrowastheworldbecomessavvierinusing

mobiledevicesandcontentproductiontoolstodocumenteventsandshare

information.Theseareearlydaysforthephenomenon.Eventually,citizenreporting

willbejustanothercrucialelementofthemainstreamnewsproductionprocess,an

informationsourcethatispartofeveryjournalist'stoolkit”(Tristan,2009).

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References

Alterman,E.(2008,March31).OutofPrintThedeathandlifeoftheAmerican

newspaper.RetrievedAugust28,2009,fromTheNewYorker:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/03/31/080331fa_fact_alterman

FeeltheFight.(2009,June20).Iran,Tehran:woundedgirldyinginfrontofcamera,

HernamewasNeda.RetrievedAugust28,2009,fromYouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbdEf0QRsLM

Kafka,P.(2009,June25).MediaMemo:CNN:WeDon’tNeedYouTubeandTwitterto

TellUsWhat’sGoingoninIran–We’veGotiReport.RetrievedAugust28,2009,from

AllThingsDigital:http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20090625/cnn‐we‐dont‐

need‐youtube‐and‐twitter‐to‐tell‐us‐whats‐going‐on‐in‐iran‐weve‐got‐ireport/

Liedtke,M.(2009,August27).Newspaperslumpdeepensas2Qadsalesfall29pct.

RetrievedAugust28,2009,fromTheAssociatedPress:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jST82Ofm0irwAxT‐0T0‐

83DmhsgwD9ABGLD80

Musil,S.(2009,August5).IDC:Online­adspendingdownagain.RetrievedAugust28,

2009,fromcnet.com:http://news.cnet.com/8301‐1023_3‐10304382‐93.html

NewspaperDeathWatch.(n.d.).NewspaperDeathWatch.RetrievedAugust28,

2009,fromNewspaperDeathWatch:http://www.newspaperdeathwatch.com/

Outing,S.(2005,June15).The11LayersofCitizenJournalism.RetrievedAugust28,

2009,fromPoynterOnline:

http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=83126

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picturephoning.com.(2009,June22).Iranbansprayersfor'AngelofFreedom'Neda

AghaSoltan.RetrievedAugust28,2009,frompicturephoning.com:

http://www.textually.org/picturephoning/archives/cat_citizens_as_camera_phone_

reporters.htm

rambam.(2007,April18).Dateline'sCitizenJournalismOnFacebook.Retrieved

Auugst28,2009,fromMobileBehavior:

http://www.mobilebehavior.com/2007/04/18/datelines‐citizen‐journalism‐on‐

facebook/

Rosen,J.(2008,July14).AMostUsefulDefinitionofCitizenJournalism.Retrieved

August28,2009,fromPressThink.com:

http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2008/07/14/a_most_use

ful_d.html

Talt,R.,&Weaver,M.(2009,June22).HowNedaSoltanibecamethefaceofIran's

struggle.RetrievedAugust28,2009,fromguardian.co.uk:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/22/neda‐soltani‐death‐iran

Thornton,P.(2009,February2009).Citizenjournalistswillbringthewhat,while

professionalsbringthewhy.RetrievedAugust2009,2009,fromPatThortonFiles:

http://patthorntonfiles.com/blog/2009/02/08/citizen‐journalists‐will‐bring‐the‐

what‐while‐professionals‐bring‐the‐why/

Tristan.(2009,August17).MobileCitizenJournalism:ThePhoneAsGlobalEqualizer.

RetrievedAugust28,2009,fromMobileBehavior:

http://www.mobilebehavior.com/2009/08/17/mobile‐citizen‐journalism‐the‐

phone‐as‐global‐equalizer/

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Zeigler,T.(2006,April26).Moblogs:UnleashingthePoweroftheCameraPhone.

RetrievedAugust28,2009,fromTheBivingsReport:

http://www.bivingsreport.com/2006/moblogs‐unleashing‐the‐power‐of‐the‐

camera‐phone/