Do we trust journalists?

October 31, 2008 / Angelo Fernando / 2 Comments

I spoke to someone whom I thought might be interested in a Media Training session today. His reaction was “I don’t talk to the media. Nothing good ever comes out of it!”

Wow!

I was slightly taken aback, even though I have heard something like this before. (No, it was not Sarah Palin.) In fact, I have a mailer on my wall that announces “Don’t talk to the media…” On the reverse, is the line “until you talk to Gerard Braud.” Gerard is an IABC member I met earlier this year, who conducts this kind of thing, and his point is that you could tell an honest story, stripped of spin, and still have a great media experience.

Which brings me to the whole point of this. A survey of journalists just out (Bulldog Reporter/Techgroup International) on media relations practices. It’s an excellent insight into how journos think, what they do to connect (or avoid) PR spin, and how they stay on top of stories using social media. Among the findings:

Only 29% of journalists read 5 blogs or more to keep up with their beat. The positive side of this is that 75% read one blog or more. One year ago, about 26% read 5 or more blogs.
RSS usage us low (58.4% don’t use it), journalists abhor phone calls from PR people, and those not familiar with their media outlet.
Interestingly, newspapers are still a key source of news for them (so will all those newspapers-are-dead promoters stop making it seem worse than it is?), and a large number of them are big on Electronic News Kits.

So if you don’t want to share the same oxygen as journalists, at least try to make it easy to let them suck in your RSS feed from a distance. And that’s not just your from press releases, and your ‘about us’ page, but from your white papers, interviews, podcasts, blogs & thought pieces (same thing, huh?). We may not trust them, but we could trust them to do their ground work if we give them less puff pieces.

Hey, I can afford to say this because I wear two hats. I communicate with the media on behalf of whom I represent, but I also interview companies for my freelance writing.

Interactive look at 2008 stock market crash

October 27, 2008October 28, 2008 / Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

In time there will be some big-picture interactive tools that let people look back at the great stock market crash we are witnessing. The roller-coaster indexes, the side-effects of deregulation, and the people behind the collapse.

The New York Times mapped how the crisis unfolded.

Here is one more, from the Guardian newspapers in the UK.

McCain-Palin campaign needs more mavericks on the bus

October 23, 2008October 23, 2008 / Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

Now that the attack ads, Governor Palin’s SNL appearance, and the unconvincing “socialist” line using surrogate Joe-the-Plumber have not moved the needle, the campaign is calling for McCain Marshalls and McCain Mavericks to be deployed. The “campaign deployment program” is a last minute attempt to stop the downward slide in the polls.

From a messaging point of view, the Palin-McCain campaign (oops!) is completely off kilter, and I bet there’s a huge tussle between the campaign staff as to whether to be consistent or scatter shot. I bet Rick Davis wants to unleash the real McCain, but having let Palin walk in and change the tone of the campaign (+ the search results if you check YouTube etc), John McCain is less and less what his brand stood for.

There is a considerable amount if chatter about “letting McCain be McCain” but either Davis’ media monitoring widget isn’t working, or they they have too many cooks in the kitchen. As one disgruntled Republican put it, “The “Straight Talk Express” was derailed in September.” Meaning the maverick was muzzled.

No wonder they’re scouting for some new voices.

Are your “Message-force multipliers” working for you?

October 21, 2008 / Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

A ‘message-force multiplier’ is a fancy way of describing a person who is highly influential, especially within the media. They have been employed by the Department of Defense, which has practically embedded these influentials to get a certain narrative across.

It is shocking to think that this happens in the normal course of the news media, but it isn’t. Like product placement, the branding tactic to get favorable impressions through a medium, this happens all the time.

Let’s sidestep the political and ethical implications of this for a moment and see what we could learn from this. Who are your message-force multipliers? Could they be already ’embedded’ and ready that all we need to do is empower them, without having to resort to cloak-and-dagger tactics?

Networked audience. At the university where I work, students, not Communicators, are the real voices. They are highly networked in both analog and digital realms. Their channels (dorm room discussions, text messaging, study groups etc) carry our brand personality further and faster than any advertisement or press release; they ‘multiply’ the impact of the message.

Motivated audience. Not everyone who’s connected and networked is highly motivated. Walmart has a group of Mommy Bloggers who are passionate about the brand. These ElevenMoms, have their own ‘beats’ as it were –frugal living, product reviews etc. One is “a suburban subversive, plotting to reinvent the way we stay-at-home-moms think about keeping up with the Joneses.” Customers who ‘plot’ on your behalf? That’s worth a lot.

Peer-to-Peer. Dell’s Digital Nomads group (see my comments earlier) is an amazing place where the brand is very low profile, and the members basically help each other. It’s not just a web site. Members reach out to each other via a Facebook group, LinkedIn, Twitter, and a YouTube channel.

Radio beats video in explaining financial crisis

October 13, 2008 / Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

Want to see the financial crisis deconstructed by a different breed of pundits than those we are subject to on TV?

A Harvard University panel discussion is available as a video feed at the Harvard site. It’s all about this “slow motion train wreck.”

But if you really want feel the heartbeat of the crisis (and not have someone fling around terms like “leverage” and “swaps” without some explanation) then I highly recommend listening to Ira Glass on This American Life, esp his second big take on the financial meltdown.

Part One, “The Giant Pool of Money,” was scary enough. This was before the Feds decided to invest in bank stocks, and the G8 finance ministers meeting last week.

Part Two, “Another frightening show about the economy,” was true to its title.

This is radio at its best. Glass does much more than capture and edit together the sound bytes of experts. He gives you a sense of the fear and contradictory thoughts running through people in the eye of the storm.

At one point, he asks one John Zuker whom we consumers should be upset with. There’s dead air and Glass says “that’s a long pause, John?” Zuker, apologizes but Glass lets him take his time; you know he’s left the pause in there to give us listeners an idea of how complicated the problem is, how scary it is when so-called experts don’t have pat answers to what ails our financial system. The layman’s explanation of credit default swaps, and something called ‘netting‘ make you wonder where our leaders were when these modern weapons of mass destruction were created.

Compared to similar analytical takes on CNN or Fox, the urgent pace and mesmerizing whirl of distracting graphics, split-screens, fast cuts, crawlers and props, radio beats TV to a punch in getting to the granular level of a crisis.

Even this well-done time-line by the New York Times, fails to get the bigger sweep of history. It begins in 2001, but misses a big one: the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999.

In times like this, TV has become the Circus Maximus providing entertainment for the lazy. Radio delivers the story, the backstory and the analysis. Great work, Ira!

Quotes for the week ending 11 October, 2008

October 11, 2008October 11, 2008 / Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

“We have not had this much FUD – fear, uncertainty and doubt – since 9/11.”

Dean Freeman, analyst at Gartner, on why technology stocks are being hit so hard.

“Humour and juxtaposition.”

Vancouver agency, Offsetters, commenting on the two tactics they use to get people to rethink the concept of global warming. They hung two inflatable lifeboats from a skyscraper, and placed a ‘lifeguard’ on the streets as part of the campaign.

“I don’t write for FOX viewers.”

Heather Mallick, on being criticized for likening Sarah Palin to a porn actress, in her column for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

“Every time so-called citizen journalism muffs one, I get such calls, as if to say, look what your bratty kid is up to now. Funny, I don’t get them – as a journalist – every time a reporter messes up.”

Jeff Jarvis, on being called upon by journalists, on the rumor that spread about Steve Jobs having a heart attack.

“I was just trying to keep Tina Fey in business.”

Sarah Palin, responding with a great sense of humor to the Saturday Night Live parody of her gaffe-ridden media interviews.

“Our intention here is not to repeat the metaphors about the glass being half full or half empty. It can’t be…”

Ad copy for Groupo Artplan, a Brazilian communication company, in a full page ‘open letter to Wall Street ad’ in the New York Times, saying “our democracy is consolidated, our economy is strong.” Sao Paulo suspended trading in its stock market twice that same day.

“Multitasking causes a kind of brownout in the brain. … all the lights go dim because there just isn’t enough power to go around.”

David Meyer, at the University of Michigan, quoted in a story on NPR, about how multitasking is ultimately unproductive.

“It links everybody together in this unholy chain.”

Interviewee on This American Life, a radio show by Ira Glass, explaining why the ‘credit default swap‘, a dubious financial instrument, made the financial crisis global and scary.

Quotes for the week ending 4 October, 2008

October 4, 2008October 5, 2008 / Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

“Washington Mutual went from “Whoo hoo” to “uh-oh.”

Mike Cassidy at San Jose Mercury News, in a column about the financial crisis and how angry we all are.

“Digital Marketing could well be one of the main industries that will benefit from this downturn, and when things turnaround (they always do), we can all be hopeful that Digital Marketing will lead the brand and advertising strategy.”

Mitch Joel, podcaster, marketer and soon-to-be-author, with his characteristic glass-is-half-full view of the world.

“We also believe that Americans … should be able to ‘debate the debates’ using all available tools on the internet and elsewhere, including blogs, web video services, and other means.”

John McCain campaign’s general counsel, Trevor Potter in a letter to Lawrence Lessig‘s call for open debates.

“Connected real estate.”

Padma Worrier, Chief Technology Officer at Cisco talking about its vision of smart, connected buildings that monitor themselves.

“If this thing follows the normal course, there would be calls for boycotts, protests and so on.”

Greg Sandoval or CNet on the news that the Copyright Royalty Board, and the Digital Music Association have called for a rate increase per music track.

“If there’s one sports league that could and should capitalize on social media marketing, it’s the NHL. It’s downright cultish.”

Jason Baer, on the poor use of social media by the National Hockey League.

“The stories should contain a story.”

Sarah Wurrey, or Media Bullseye, quoting Marta Karlqvist, on advice for Sarah Palin who is facing a lot of press this week.

“If you’d been blogging in 1932, would you have told people to put down the phone and pointed them to that typewriter thingy on their desks.”

Shel Holtz, to blogger Jeremy Pepper on the latter’s suggestion that PR people get off email and get on the phone.

“Having your friends sorted by battleground states is something I haven’t seen any other politician come up with before. This is a glimpse of the future of high-tech politicking.”

Hoipolloireport

Angelo Fernando's blog since 2004

Media