Smile! You’re on constant camera! (So be careful)

Better watch your words and action—there could be a ‘new media’ outlet in a nearby pocket or pen

People keep learning the hard way that the definition of “media” has changed. And, unless you’ve been asleep the past two decades, you know technology has changed dramatically. Politicians, executives, entertainers and everyday folks are all finding that things they said or did, they assumed “in private,” have become very public.

This example from yesterday comes from California where an open microphone cost California Assemblyman Mike Duvall his political career. Los Angeles’ CBS TV-station KCAL aired the Assemblyman’s comments regarding his sexual exploits as they had been recorded on an open microphone. Of course, the recorded comments also made it on KCAL’s Web site. Links to the Web site spread on various blogs and e-mails. I learned of it when it was the lead story in an e-mail from TVSpy.com, a daily newsletter sent to a large group of media types.

Of course, many people remember when an audience member’s cell phone recorded former Seinfeld star Michael (“Kramer”) Richards at a comedy club as he blasted hecklers with racial slurs. He hasn’t much been heard from since.