Media

Quotes for the week, ending 21 March, 2009

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

“The Holy Grail is to know as much as possible but to protect to the greatest extent privacy rights. Google’s halo has slipped for the very reason that it believes in the first part of the equation but not in the second.”

Simon Davies of Privacy International, on Google’s Street View maps of the UK.

“This is like the captain and the crew of the ship, reserving the lifeboats.”

Congressman to AIG chairman Edward Liddy on Nightline.

“My job then becomes one of ‘comforting the disturbed and disturbing the comfortable.”

Social Media Today’s Blogger of the week Dennis Howlett, on the need for PR and Communicators to get buy in from middle management, who have much to gain from social media, but feel most threatened.

“We’re just now emerging from a dark age, and as we ease out of decadent late capitalism and into a more sustainable way of life, transparency, authenticity, balance, egalitarianism and distributed models will become the norm.”

HilaryBromberg, Writing for CMO Strategy in Adverting Age, on the 8 strategies a marketer could do tp stay afloat in an uncertain economy.

“We need human colors to paint the greatest piece of art that has ever been made – the world.”

A line from a video submission by a high school student, José Vinícius Reis Gouveia of Brazil, that won the online contest for video held by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs.

“Forget live blogging everything people say. It’s too much pressure and I guarantee there are way too many pro/experienced bloggers doing it better and more consistently than you in the crowd. Let them.”

Rohit Bhargava, a prolific blogger,with a few tips on how best to manage time and resources at SXSW Conference in Austin Texas this week.

“The role of the curator is to, in a lot of instances, broaden the horizons of the audiences …so that they don’t get stuck in an echo chamber.”

Gina Trapani, founder of LifeHacker, at a session on Curating a Crowd-sourced World, at SXSW Conference in Austin, TX.

“I also suggest to young communicators to showcase their Social Media talents and make sure that is a listed skill on resumes.”

Johna Burke, VP of BurellesLuce, in a Twinterview I conducted this week, responding to a question about the why job seekers in PR and Communications need to be doing

Cross-pollinating content benefits you, me, Mark and Rupert

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Two things made me think about how content might begin to flow across networks.

The first was watching Charlene Li at South By Southwest (the video) ask about ‘what will it take Faceboook and MySpace, Google and Yahoo play nice, and allow us to migrate data backa and forth.

The second a news item I heard Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson talk about, where The Guardian is letting developers access its API use its Open Platform to re-purpose content.

This is where all media organizations have been hesitant to go, because they see their content as the crown jewels. I don’t blame them, for now. But what happens when content tends to get created by people outside the organization? By freelancers, by citizen journalists who are so coveted by everyone from the CNNs of this world to local newspapers. Wouldn’t they want to take their content with them, to their Facebook page or blog? Facebook is learning this the hard way –via Facebook protests like this!

It’s coming to a point when cross-pollinated content –for want of a better term– will be more valuable than the original. That’s why the mash-up video is so much more compelling than the original ad, the curated content and the RSS feed more rewarding than a visit to the source.

If you take this blog post and add a new dimension to it, add a few links, sidebars and comments, my readers might find it more interesting than the original piece. Yes, we are going to bump into copyright issues, but along the way we are going to learn to ‘play nice’ as Charlene said.

Speaking of which, just today, the copyright owner Rob Cottingham, emailed me to say how much he loved the use of his cartoon in a post about Twitter on IABC xChange. He asked if I could give him credit, which I promptly did. Just that small gesture of asking and not suing made his cartoon and my post that much more valuable. (The one used above is his as well and perfect for the SXSW conference I referenced.) Who knows, Rob’s cartoons, Noise To Signal, might influence someone to think harder and bring more clarity to a topic becuase he decided to let his content migrate into mine.

Maybe Murdock and Zukerberg could learn something from Cottingham.

John McCain’s tweets tips the scales

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How does one keep up with two McCains on Twitter? Actually there are three (The first is his old account, the second is his senator handle, the third McCain is his daughter)

Being from his state, I have been following the senator from Arizona for while, but this week he sort of starting moving at the speed of @GStephanopoulos –that’s George Stephanopolous, for anyone who’s not been smitten by the media folk who have taken to Twitter like their ancestors took to typewriters. Some eight tweets in an hour today.

Actually it was a ‘twinterview’ that George had set up in advance. It began with @SenJohnMcCain apologizing ” hi george im a little slow” but it picked up with exchanges about TARP, AIG bailout, daughter @McCainBlogette‘s spat with Ann Coulter.

There has been lots of talk about how late McCain is to the party, and how had he used it better during the campaign, he would have been the tech president. (Sobering thought: He has 100,000 more followers than Stephanopoulos, but nearly 200,000 less than Obama.) But that’s all water under the bridge.

What”s significant is how he’s adopted something that is quite challenging even for people who are great with email (and he doesn’t use email he told us). It’s going to definitely shake things up for many others in government. Especially, as Dan Nowiki notes in a piece today in The Arizona Republic, that McCain’s tweets are now in his own voice.


An offensive video nails it

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OK, bad pun. You’ll know when you watch this. But have to admit I have never laughed so hard at an offensive video. Usually, I have to do the ‘what were they thinking’ thing. Many come to mind, but the GoDaddy ads were the icing on the cake.

It’s not just Alanis Morissette who’s brilliant. It’s the guy next to her. He’s so good, to the point of distracting from the real message, I had to watch it again. And pay attention, right to the end.

The video is for Earth Hour. on Sat March 28th. (Last year on Earth Day, some of you may recall how Google went ‘dark.’) Many organizations are getting creative in how they participate. The Coke sign at Picadilly Circus will be switched off. HSBC will be doing so as well. IKEA will let customers shop by candlelight.

Just kidding. But they will turn off their air conditioning.

Quotes for the week ending 14 March, 2009

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“Stewart’s attack on CNBC is not some cable cockfight. At the heart of this spectacle is a lesson that reporters, anchors, editors, news directors and anyone with a stake in a vital American fourth estate should heed.”

Joe Vince, blogging about the Jon Stewart – Jim Kramer fight, where Stewartwho has a popular Comedy Central show, attacked Cramer of CNBC for failing to warn people about the risky Wall Street conduct.

“lot of people will actually get to see the Internet”

Tim Berners-Lee, the farther of the World Wide Web, talking about how mobile devices will be the main access points for the web in much of the developed world. He however warned of the vulnerability of being able to be snooped on.

“Guava threw together this spot in which a Blackberry literally shoots through Apple.”

A fruity quote by AdRants about a story about a new TV spot by Blackberry taking aim at the iPhone, without mentioning the latter.

“So is advertising really adding value to our brands or not? I am sure agencies fail their clients from time to time … But the difference is that civilians don’t attempt to do the job of a military man. That is why they are set apart and called civilians and military.”

Udara, a blogger at JWT Sri Lanka, commenting on the eternal problem of how anyone with a Mac and a designer may not be in the ideas business.

“So far “McCain” in gothic letters on the back of my neck is winning my unofficial survey.”

Meghan McCain, commenting on her latest media tour and writing stint.

“We’re going to attempt to conduct a full interview exclusively on Twitter — complete with the 140-character limit!”

George Stephanopoulos of ABC News announcing his attempt to ‘twinterview’ John McCain on twitter next Tuesday

“Some of the communications I see haven’t changed since the 1960s. Same bad photos, same jargon (we need to leverage our core competencies and strive for World Class synergy), same platitudes … same spin.”

Steve Crescenzo, in an interview with ValleyPRBlog, on why he he speaks out against corpoorate-speak. Crescenzo will hold a full-day seminar for IABC-Phoenix on Thursday 19 March.

“You don’t have to have your fingers in every social media pie. All these channels are grouped under one category but … If a chat forum works best then stick to that.”

Sona Hathi, Assistant Editor, Melcru, on the ROI and reasons for using social media.

“The more we can do to open the process to the public, the greater the public understanding – the more legitimacy the public system will have in the eyes of the public”

A Kansas Judge J. Thomas Marten, who allowed a court reporter to use Twitter slthough jurors are told to avout newspaper, broadcasts and online media.

What we could learn from the Rush Limbaugh spat

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If you haven’t been following the heated exchange between the Democratic Party, the Republican leadership and Conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh, it’s worth going back and looking at the he-said, he un-said, he didn’t mean to say back and forth.

It’s like an ongoing tutorial (check this, this and this) on why it’s important to pay attention to the medium not just the person you are engaging before foot is inserted in mouth. Here is an example:

Loose Lips: “Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh’s whole thing is entertainment … “Yes, it is incendiary. Yes, it is ugly.”

Who Said That: Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee

Oops, I take that back: “Words that I said weren’t what I was thinking. It was one of those things where I thinking I was saying one thing, and it came out differently.”

What??? Steele was attempting to take back his sharp criticism on Limbaugh

You cannot take anything back. Any media relations rookie will tell you that. In fact any SEO rookie will tell you that also. Just Google the words “Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer” or just “Limbaugh Steele” and see. So what can we learn from this –besides never trying to engage nuclear talk-show hosts?

  • Understand that radio is still a powerful medium. The host always, always has the last word. If you don’t believe me, tune in and see how cleverly any show host cuts off a caller with a few simple words:  “I’m coming up on a hard break.” Click!
  • If you have to challenge someone, make sure you have full access to the media platform, or be pretty damn sure you have a stronger one beneath you. I remember Sun CEO/blogger Jonathan Schwartz once said “while a journalist is writing about my blog, I am blogging about his journalism.”
  • Stick to some talking points if you tend to improvise, or your mouth tends to go extremely left field without informing your brain first. Here’s Steele, again.

PS: I have nothing against Steele or Limbaugh –the above may contain “words that I said weren’t what I was thinking…”

Charles Barkley’s photo shoot in Tent City, Arizona

/ Angelo Fernando / 1 Comment

If you’re not from Arizona, Tent City will mean nothing to you. To those who are sent here, it’s a the special reception felons get by the toughest sheriff in the country. They get to wear not just prison stripes but pink underwear.

For Charles Barkley, NBA star, who was given jail time for drinking and driving, it was quite a photo-shoot, and turns out, a grand PR coup for the Sheriff. Note Barkley’s prison digs have a swoosh!

He got a separate tent, and a press conference, where the Sheriff Joe Arpaio shook hands with him. But let’s not blame the sheriff . He only fed the media obsession with celebrity, knowing fully well a press conference with a super-star felon would have a nice long tail effect — if not provide some great AP photos.

Watch (and listen to the cameras in) this verison of the conference on TMZ and see what I mean.

Note: Mike Tyson was not so lucky. He wore stripes and did not get a press conference.

Quotes for the week ending 7 March, 2009

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

“Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh’s whole thing is entertainment,” Steele said. “Yes, it is incendiary. Yes, it is ugly.”

Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele who took issue with the notion that Rush Limbaugh is the de facto leader of the GOP.

“I would be honored if the Drive-By Media headlined me all day long: “Limbaugh: I Hope Obama Fails.”

Rush Limbaugh’s statement in January that began the controversy.

“An intellectual campfire”

John Byrne, of BusinessWeek, describing how he, a digital immigrant (not a digital native) thinks the ‘story’ in journalism is developed where people gather and converse.

“Because we’re rotting corpses grasping for any glimmer of relevance, John!”

Samantha Bee, reporting about Twitter (and Congress) on the Jon Stewart show.

“the ability to run an open, transparent, participatory and collaborative government.”

Barack Obama’s pick, Vivek Kundra, as as his chief information officer.

“While they wait for better jobs to appear, they’re going to invent online tools that supplant the current ones — tools whose modus vivendi is emotional, not financial … Amid the rubble of foreclosures and layoffs, this may just be a little green shoot that transforms the recovery.”

Josh Bernoff of Forrester Research, at the Groundswell blog, on how volunteerism could change the tide.

Thoughts on another missing journalist

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

Even though I mainly write about marketing, social media and PR, my attention always turns to journalism and media. How could it not, when it is an integral part of those categories.

So every time I see a journalist incarcerated or detained for reporting, I think about how easy and risk-free it is to practice marketing or media relations.

We don’t give much thought to how none of these two practices would exist if not for the courageous reporters who bring in the stories, that create the readers, viewers and listeners, that sustain the organizations we take for granted. CBS and Catie Couric would not exist if not for people like Richard Butler. He’s not a household name, but last year he was abducted in Iraq and held for two months.

This week, it’s an American Journalist, Roxana Saberi. Her story is told at NPR and the Times Online. Organizations such as Reporters Without Borders keep track of these reporters who have been imprisoned or killed (11, and 136 respectively in 2009!) These are more than statistics. We ought to at least speak out for them –if not re-tweet the awful news from the comfort of our cellphones.

Speaking of which, you could keep up with incidents related to press freedom by following this British journalism site on Twitter @press_freedom

What “Goodbye, Colorado” means to us Tweeps

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Whenever I talk to a new media practitioner–ok, cheerleader– I hear something along the lines of  ‘new media does not kill old media –it only complements it.’ I cheer along, being a staunch supporter of the business model that grew out of Strasbourg, Germany, and the one that grew out of Mountain View, California.

So the news that the Rocky Mountain News shuttered last week seems like an unfair blow to the head of this (romantic?) dual-platform idea. One reader comment to the last article on the RMN online site suggested that it was

demonstrating how the market is suposed to run. When a company is mismanaged and refuses to keep up with inovation and the modernation of an industry. When a news outlet makes itself biased and slants stories from a loose dog to elections. Then the outlet goes out of business … There is a differance between op/eds and news.

I have never read the paper, but I can tell you that it’s not only print media that co-mingles news and op-eds, and those darn cat (or dog) stories. But sanwiched between those silly nuggets is real information that you wouldn’t get elsewhere. More so in newspapers. They may not cover it with the speed of, say, The Drudge Report, but print journalists bring in the mind-set and passion to go deep and sideways to inform us, and perhaps connect some dots. Another RMN reader commented that “Your front page was our front door.”

Ironically, today we get news through the back door. I am a huge fan of RSS, for instance. I just got a good summary of news tips from some folk I follow on Twitter, since it is a community –whether they are journalists or not– that keeps watching out for each other. Twitter, to me, is actually the side door, the window left slightly ajar to let some air in. Occasionally someone slides relevant information through the crack. But I also get a huge dose of valuable information from my skinny, but well-put together community newspaper that isn’t being blogged about or conveyed in 140 characters.

We twitterers, voyeurs of Google alerts, and purveyors of the speeded up news cycle ought to not be so quick to write the “I told you so!” piece about the demise of Print.