Media

Quotes for the week ending 28 June, 2008

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

Seth - Meatball Sundae - Godin at the IABC conference, NY, 2008

“We are entering an era of tribes. Every tribe needs a leader.”

Seth Godin, final keynote, at the IABC Conference, New York

“Most intranets look like two tin cans and a piece of string.”

Steve Crescenzo on Corporate Blogging, at the IABC Conference, New York

“I dream of 150,000 members”

Barbara Gibson, Incoming chair of IABC, at the IABC Conference, New York

“Journalists’ sensors are tingling.”

Doug Wotherspoon, on the dangers of ‘greenwashing,’ at the IABC Conference, New York

“We want transparency in business, but wonder why students are baring their whole lives on MySpace.”

John Deveney, on Building Credibility, at the IABC Conference, New York

“You have to be careful in your belief that you can have an influence.”

Carol Sapriel, on Crisis Management, at the IABC Conference, New York

They did what with my story?

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

Role playing in \I attended an amazing session yesterday titled “A day in the life of a TV reporter” that may have seemed like it was about news, but was really about PR. Specifically about pitching your story to a TV news team,

Gerard Braud who ran the session is a been-there-done-that kind of guy. It was not the usual how to, with five golden rules, etc. It was an exercise in every sense of the word –one of the most fast paced sessions I’ve ever attended– to put us in the hot seat of the news team.

I guess you never realize the “if it bleeds it leads” imperative in a newsroom until you work in one. Attendees were divided into four news stations, KSUK, KRUD, KNTS and KRAP (no shortage of acronym fun!) given the same stories, and asked to produce three news bulletins -an A.M. newscast, an afternoon, and the big enchilada, the evening news. But it wasn’t just that. We were assigned to roles of egocentric, tired, underpaid, ambitious and reclusive individuals who put it all together. But if they were caricatures, Braud assured us he had worked with precisely these types.

That was the whole point of this. To see how stories, pitched to a news organization made up of dysfunctional (read: human) individuals dealing with the pressures of advertising, sweeps, budget constraints and deadlines ever make it.

The day’s story line-up included murder, corruption, a weather related car wreck, a local government story and a technology piece among others. As we set off to report and package the stories for the bulletin, a story of a blogger (posing as a child to lure a pedophile) was dropped by most teams, never mind the social media hook. (Please don’t tell Shel Holtz that!) The zoo story about a giraffe giving birth, survived. But you knew that, didn’t you? Even though it meant sending a cameraman in two different directions, it was in keeping with the silly convention of a cute story wrapping up a bulletin stacked with very depressing stories..

Just when we began to get the hang of things, Braud threw a curve at all four teams. I won’t spoil it for any other group who might attend this session some day, but just say this. Hard exposive stories are the sexiest -with the exception of the giraffe.

There were some great lessons. Pitching lessons, empathy lessons, and sensitivity to the news cycle. “We tend to treat them news people as special, don’t we?” remarked Braud. “We put them on a pedestal, but don’t recognize they are human, just like us.”

Stuntman in New York targets journalists, us

/ Angelo Fernando / 1 Comment

The stunt by a French daredevil tells us something about how far someone would go to ‘create awareness’ and target the media. Forty-five stories to tell his story.

Alain Roberts climbed the brand new New York Times building right to the top. No harness, no ropes. Just a banner in his hand which he hung out with his message –and a web address — about global warning.

What does it tell us about sending a message? Guerrilla marketing is quite tame compared to ‘culture jammers’ like Mr. Roberts and street artists like Bansky. They have figured out that it doesn’t require a grand media buy to take the message public. Banski’s ‘art’ (left) is stark, much cheaper than a billboard, and always packs a good story.

In Roberts’ case, he was literally taking the message to The New York Times which of course, carried the story. And a video clip. How could they resist? The story was right outside their window! They updated the story online too as a second man attempted to climb the building.

The banner, and the risky act of disobedience was for the audience outside. Two audiences. One guy and a banner. A funky web site. Lots of stories.

How far do you go to tell your story?

Quotes for the week ending 21 June, 2008

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

“It’s a push back from the sound-bite culture.”

Lee Rainie, director of the Pew group, on recent findings that 30% of Americans use the web to get more of the story that the media slice up.

“We have a steady, relentless snack-food diet of facts and ‘news briefs’ driven by the mistaken perception that fast is best and better in an RSS alert-enabled world. Unfortunately, with news happenings in constant motion, we never “have time” to “go back” and provide a deeper look for our news consumers.”

Linda Zimmer, on the blog Business Communicators in Second Life.

“A radical suggestion for the Social Media Release: don’t put any Social Media Releases out over the wires.”

Todd Defren, recommending people publish a regular press release on the wires, with a link in it to the Social Media version.

“They’ll get half of it right. We’ll push them to getting all of it right.”

Michael Tippett, co-founder of Now Public, on how bloggers are being trained in Journalism by the Society of Professional Journalists.

“The reality is that they’re tiptoeing in the gray zone between open and traditional media.”

Andrew Keen, commenting on Encyclopedia’s move to expand it’s ‘community of experts.’

“Nope. No fine print here my dear sirs and madams. HONEST. Everything that’s currently free is still free.”

Mike Curtis, on Jing’s blog, about the relationship -and business model– of Screencast and Jing by parent company Techsmith

“it’s a big red flag that the AP is now waving in the blogosphere.”

Neville Hobson, on the Associate Press’ pay-as-you-quote system

Device Independent Media is coming

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

These three words may not mean much today, so save it for later in your brain.

What it means is that a content provider –even your company– could produce media content that is smart enough to know what platform is being used to access that content, and then configuring the story/video/slides etc on the fly to make the experience relevant. It is not simply about resizing the content to fit the screen, but editing the story for your device.

Think about it. If you’re reading a story on Myanmar on your iPhone or via ‘smart goggles‘ you have less tolerance for detail, and may want more images and a high level description that loads fast.

When you access the same story on your laptop, you may have time and screen real estate for larger graphics, more context, maps, and other detail.

And should you be browsing on your 60-inch High def TV, you may appreciate longer length video pieces because your battery life or your broadband signal isn’t something to worry about.

The New York Times is looking into this, as Mike Zimbalist explains, here.

Bloggers and journalists embrace professional motion blur

/ Angelo Fernando / 1 Comment

Another major blur is taking place, as we hear more and more about bloggers and journalists walking in each others’ shoes. We are all passing through what I could best describe as a constant Professional Motion Blur: Marketing and Communication, PR and Advertising, Blogging and Media Relations, Digital Printing and Direct Marketing, Search and Marketing, Journalism and Blogging.

This story and this captures what’s happening as bloggers get to learn the rules of journalism, while ironically journalists are learning to play by the ‘rules’ of the blogosphere, and even learn to use Twitter. The Society of Professional Journalists is conducting a series of seminars in Chicago, Greensboro, and Los Angeles.

Are we muddying the professions? Some will say it’s the death of expertise. I just think we cannot afford to operate in our silos anymore. Faced with our multi-media, highly connected, multi-cultural audiences, we have no other option but to embrace the blur.

Quotes for the week ending 14 June, 2008

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

“Today, it has become an economic, environmental and brand liability for the company.”

Advertising Age’s jean Halliday, commenting on Hummer, and GM’s CEO Rick Wagoner suggesting the company may dump the brand.

“Scott McClellan is having a ‘Matrix’ moment.”

Mark Dery, who teaches journalism at NYU, on former White House press secretary’s book, and waking up for the dream made up of a media fiction.

“Prime time is still the right time.”

WIRED article on why broadcast ad sales are strong, in spite of the economic slump and other woes.

“Hi. My name is Steve and I suffer from Shiny Object Syndrome (SOS for short).”

Steve Rubel, on how to sift through shiny objects in social media sites such as FriendFeed, that he is bullish about.

“ This is more than a facelift.”

Facebook spokesperson, about the new, improved Facebook with added vitamins 🙂

“Britannica goes wiki without actually admitting it.”

One of the many (in my opinion mistaken) responses to the news of Encyclopedia Britannica shifting gears into a more collaborative model.

“One of the premier political journalists and analysts of his time.”

Tom Brokaw on NBC’s Tim Russert who died of a heart attack.

Tim Russert’s style

/ Angelo Fernando / 1 Comment

The sad news today for journalism –and NBC –of Tim Russert’s death makes us appreciate the kind of journalists we so often take for granted. You could watch Tim, and see his genuine curiosity seep out of his eyes, and you could almost feel he was asking the question you would have if you were in the studio/oval office.

I didn’t realize he had been hosting Meet The Press for so long. That word, the ‘Press,’ has gone through many incarnations, but the type of reporting, analysis and perspective Russert brought to journalism never wavered. He never seemed happy with the glib, half-hearted or spun answer.(see how doesn’t get Clinton and Obama off the hook) which gave him the notion of being “tough.” But I like to think of him as being something else: honest to his audience.

Jon Stewart blurs journalism. So what?

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

A Pew Research story this week based on research into The Daily Show by Jon Stewart says that he blurs the line between comedy and journalism, but also followed the agenda of the news media, albeit selectively.

However they also note that:

  • “The Daily Show performs a function that is close to journalistic in nature — getting people to think critically about the public square.”
  • “its use of news footage to deconstruct the manipulations by public figure … performs a function that is close to journalistic in nature — getting people to think critically about the public square.”

Maybe controversial. May it’s pushing the envelope, but when all other envelopes are being pushed, bent out of shape and torn to shreds, Stewart could be setting the stage –or reflecting a shift– in the new journalism.

Making the front page in a digital world

/ Angelo Fernando / 1 Comment

I have a fascination with Front Pages of newspapers. I have saved some of the front pages of The Arizona Republic on 9/12 –the day after. Dipping into the large format book “Page One” with hundreds of front pages of the New York Times from 1900 onwards is like a sweeping history lesson.

The Newseum which recently opened in Washington, DC has an exhibit capturing the same sweep of history for us, but in a digital realm. From the Gulf News featuring Obama, to the tabloid-like The Sun from Kuala Lumpur and 500 other newspapers, they have the front pages of world newspapers digitally transmitted to the Newseum.

But even as many are anxious to write an obituary for the newspaper (since newspaper reading habits are on the decline) there is a positive trend: “the total audience for what newspapers produce is rising, not falling,” says the State of the News Media, 2008 report from the Project for Excellence in Journalism.

“What newspapers produce” may not be elegant snapshots of each day that we can archive or thumb through in a book, but the news about where news production, consumption and distribution are headed is not so bad, after all.