For all the caterwauling about citizen journalism and vlogging, it looks like one old media saw continues to be true: If you're a cute female and you can talk into a camera reasonably well, you're pretty much set (provided you're young.) Amanda Cogdon, ex of Rocketboom, is going to be reporting for ABC News, and Amber MacArthur (who hosts Command N and is a TWIT regular) has already become CityTV's resident net.expert.
Now, I'm not saying these two don't deserve their success. Both of them seem to be pretty intelligent, and they had the guts to strike out and do video work on the Internet before the rest of us lazy sods. Plus Amber Macarthur is quite good on the various TWIT shows she appears on, so more power to her.
But to me, the move to TV says less about old media catching onto a new talent pool then it does about the same rules about old media (hair, teeth and ambition make for success) applying to the new medium, as well as putting the brakes on the "death to TV!" caterwauling usually heard from the less visually appealing (and predominantly male, btw) podcasters and vloggers out there. I include myself in that category...I've got a podcast about Dr. Who, for f**k's sakes! It's pretty cool that I can do a radio show every week about my favorite television program and distribute it for next to nothing to a global audience....but it's not going to take over from "Friends" any time soon, nor are most of the podcasts out there. Is that all bad? Dunno. But it's a good idea to keep this stuff in perspective.
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