Newspapers Plunge, Obama Uses New & Minority Media

Skimming through AdAge online I came upon this op-ed by Mike Hughes of The Martin Agency on why the ad industry needs to support newspapers. Do Some Good: Create Newspaper Ads.

It’s a great example of the brontosaurus mindlessly plodding while the world continues evolving.  We need newspapers — or at least trustworthy reporters and honest editors — but the dailies are dying.  Hughes’ piece, especially coupled with the 30-plus critical responses from people in the news and ad business, is a classic and should be read in every college journalism, advertising and PR course.

It should also be read by us in the PR and marketing business.

A good encapsulation of the challenge — and where we’re at in this transition– is Aggregation Forces Journalistic Evolution

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Meanwhile, as the corporate print industry bleeds massive red ink, Barack Obama emerges as the most media savvy president ever.  Read Obama Sets New Standards for Managing the News.

I have mixed feelings about this.  There’s a very fine line between understanding  and manipulation.    I’m impressed with his team’s recognition of the new/social/minority media and ability to embrace it for maximum effectiveness.

I certainly prefer Obama’s media savvy to the Bush Administration’s tactics of disinformation and censorship.

At the same time, the Obama Administration’s acknowledgment and use of the new media needs to be monitored. Use of controlled leaks and advanced leaks to targeted new media underscores a really good understanding of how people are communicating these days.

Understanding can lead to consensus.  It can also lead to control.

Most news bloggers get their news from the very media that’s dying.  The vast majority of bloggers don’t have editors nor were they trained as reporters.  Very few of them cross-check facts.  (A lot of them don’t even check their spelling).

Therefore, most of them are more susceptible to bias and manipulation.

We’re in a time of major transition and I hope we come out of it with some sort outlets for reporters who see journalism as a noble profession, who are hungry for the truth, and who maintain healthy skepticism.

What’s all this have to do with higher education?  Concerning the dying industry, our college administrative leaders still judge our success by how much we appear in print or on TV.  I know most people in our business are trying to educate them about this massive shift (as we work to sort it out ourselves).

Concerning the new media and journalism: if real, fearless, caring  journalists begin disappearing, so too does democracy.

Newspapers, Twitter, Facebook and Blogs

Just a quick post about some things that I follow and think about.

(It also gave  me an excuse to use this title which has a nice rhythm to it, kind of like “lions and tigers and bears, oh my!”)

Senator Benjamin L. Cardin, D.-Md has introduced a bill to make newspapers tax exempt.  If newspapers chose nonprofit status they would have to refrain from making political endorsements.  It’s all a nice thought but it’s too little too late.  Newspapers’ decline is not a good thing for democracy, but the industry shot itself with its long-time complacency and arrogance, feeling as though it was important enough that circulation would never drop, people would always buy personal ads and businesses would always take out the too expensive display ads.

Most of us in the business have seen the signs of print faltering for some time but now the industry looks to me like an old man in a Model T Ford, pedal to the rusting metal, clutching the wheel as he tries to navigate a NASCAR race.

And so we turn to new media, social media, whatever we want to call it.

Good article on why Facebook redesigned itself and the users’ reaction to it.   Users hate the new Facebook, but blogger guru Robert Scoble has a different view.

It’s still amazing to me that a company a little more than five years old could try to buy another company (Twitter) for $500 million last summer.

Contrast  the print industry’s implosion with the explosive growth of Facebook, Myspace, Google and others and you can see the writing on the wall.  It’s written in billboard size fonts.

Problem: As professionals who disseminate information, as people who promote and market, we still haven’t found our footing in this new territory.

Finally, here’s a blog with 10 tips for using Twitter to build your blogging community.  It’s good, concise and helpful.  In fact, I’ll probably bookmark ShoutEm.

Buddy Holly: 50 Years & Timeless

There is no straight path on the internet. While skimming headlines and reading some articles I came upon reporter Bob Greene’s commentary on Peggy Sue, the model for one of rock’s great songs of longing, “Peggy Sue” by Buddy Holly.

I grew up listening to  Holly, and for several decades played many of his songs in our band– “Rave On,” “Oh Boy,” and, yes, “Peggy Sue.”   His songs are diamonds, casting light and energy with their finely honed simplicity.

The article led me to commentary by Don McClean about the creation of “American Pie,” that huge rambling 1971 masterpiece that used Buddy Holly as a springboard to sum up the history of rock.  (I also found a site explaining the lyrics of this musical magnum opus.)

Buddy Holly was the spark of inspiration for Bob Dylan, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, and The Rolling Stones.  All have freely spoken of his profound influence on their music, to say nothing of his influence on country music.

His songs have been covered by rock and country groups in every decade since his death at age 23 in  a plane crash February 2, 1959.

His record label continued to market him as an “active artist.”  The marketing continued through the years with a movie The Buddy Holly Story starring Gary Bussy.  While alive he played such unlikely venues as the Arthur Murray Dance Party.

I don’t think his songs have ever been out of print and the marketing continues today.  In fact, he fits into today’s society probably better than he did in the ’50s with his total geek look (frumpy hair, big black glasses, pure white toothy grin) as well as his music which was gently rebellious, openly joyous, occasionally angry and wide-eyed innocent (“Oh Boy”) and quietly mature (“True Love Ways”) while pondering love.

I could tie this into higher ed marketing but it’s Sunday and I’d rather not.  I’ll continue reading about the guy who created a whole new market, inspired artists who changed society and spawned movements in many musical directions.  I’ll continue my incessant pondering about how we elevate people — artists, politicians, social activists — into permanent icon status.

Then I’ll listen to his music, saving for last “Not Fade Away.”  (Bonus: The Stones’ version)

Feel free to weigh in, all you fellow music lovers.

Podcast Highlights: Laughter, Tears, Jesus and Darth

Michael P from orgsync submitted a comment recently with questions about podcasting:

What was the most memorable thing that happened during your podcasts? How many did you do? I was reading that most podcast don’t make it over 10 casts due to the amount of work that goes into them. Your thoughts…

Always in search of new subjects, I jumped on it (Thanks, Michael!)

I started doing podcasts in October 2005.  With more than 200 shows we’re still going strong.

I hadn’t read that most podcasts splutter out so quickly but it’s probably true. If you want quality podcasts, there is some work to them.  At the same time, they’re not as much work as quality video productions.   And being a lover of the spoken word, conversations and good stories, I think podcasts are worth the time and effort.

Several memorable moments crowd their way into that category.  One of the most emotional  for me was my first interview with our new president, Maravene Loeschke.  The subject of drunk drivers came up and she said she and her husband had “a very beautiful daughter” who was killed by a drunk driver.

I was totally unprepared.  I teared up and choked up, barely whispering how sorry I was to hear that.  After a moment I recovered and continued the interview.

Another very real moment came with Eden, one of the first students I followed through their freshman and sophomore years to let them tell the story of entering and adjusting to college through the students’ experiences.  One day Eden came in and sat down, totally shaken.  She had caught her fiance cheating on her with her friend. She told me the whole story.  “I threw my engagement ring at him and left,” she said.  “Later I thought, well, it will make a good podcast.”  And so we sat down in the studio. . . .

Casey, a 6′2″ music major, was another student I interviewed weekly.  He always provided a great interview with his offbeat vision of the world. He had a wonderful, hearty laugh.  One day, I said something that struck him funny and he launched into a laughing fit and couldn’t quit.  It was one of the few times I’ve lost control in the studio because I started laughing, too.  Later I time it.  It lasted a minute and a half, which is a really long laugh.  I left it in the interview.

Verne Lapps is a retired speech professor who years ago recorded the New Testament. He studied the Bible, and did a lot of research to prepare to do the dozens of voices in the Scriptures. His description of how he found himself disagreeing with Jesus a couple times, and what it felt like to be the Voice of God, was, to me, riveting.

Lapps also went to college with James Earl Jones, and hearing stories of what “Jim” was like at the very beginning of his acting career, and how a play they were in together drove them apart, again, was fascinating.

So, Mike, again, thanks for the questions.  Yes, podcast production is work but when you have real conversations and really get people to open up, their stories are compelling, and in a lot of cases, timeless.

I also did a series on how to podcast, equipment, etc.

You can find the shows at podcast.mansfield.edu  Scroll through the archives.

We’re redesigning the page to accommodate our growth and make it more user friendly.  Let me know how you like the shows.

CUPRAP Highlight: Mike Richwalsky

The CUPRAP audience was happy with Karine Joly’s presentation.  She left us feeling good, confident, informed.

Mike Richwalsky of Allegheny College shook us out of our comfort zone with his presentation,  “Put The Technology to Work” .

He cited the March 2009 Nielsen report that “social networks and blogs are more popular than email.”  The biggest jump in users is in the 35-49 age group (and based on my own anecdotal experience, I’d guess the 50-65 age group is gaining ground).

He then proceeded to describe how to blogging is the subfloor for the rest of social media.  They’re also great search engine magnets.  Everyone from students to the college president should be blogging, Mike said.  RSS feeds are the 2×4’s of site construction.

Crowdsource your content.  Share it with all who want to partake, and encourage them to share it.

Mike is a smooth and quietly enthusiastic presenter.  By now he had everyone nodding.  At precisely the right moment, he introduced Twitter.  Most of the audience had heard of Twitter.  Some use it for their personal lives.  A few use it professionally.

By the time Mike demo’d Twitter posting–Web, TXT, iphone, Tweetdeck, Twitterific and hashtags you could feel minds spinning at various speeds.

Twitter was creating a gentle buzz.

He showed examples of how the mainstream media is using Twitter, and how to use it in the field of customer service.  He also showed how it can keep you up to date on what is being said about your institution.

He asked how many people were totally freaked out with all the info.  Most of us raised our hands.  I’m pretty sure  I raised mine twice.

Mike nodded and moved onto Facebook.

He talked about fans, groups, creating and targeting ads, analytics and costs.

He forayed onto YouTube and showed examples of Allegheny’s work.

When he mentioned Ning, a guy at the next table, shoulders sagging with info overload, echoed in helpless despair: “Ning?”

Mike then mentioned that we’re all moving  to cloud computing and a woman near me shook her head:  “Oh my God, what’s cloud computing?” I think her hands were shaking.  Several people reached for the mini-chocolate bars that the Hotel Hershey makes available for crisis moments like this.

This crowd of new and seasoned PR/publication/Web pros talked about Karine’s and Mike’s presentations during the rest of the conference.  They were both models of good content presented in an organized, interesting manner.

I had created a Twitter account a couple years ago but just couldn’t get into it.  At the end of the presentation, I walked back to my room, sat down with my laptop, logged on to Twitter and began tweeting. . . .

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Both Mike and Karine are pioneers in the social media field.  I would suggest subscribing to their blogs to stay on the cutting edge of the field.

Here’s a link to Karine’s  collegewebeditor

And to Mike’s blog:  http://highedwebtech.com/

Wouldn’t hurt to subscribe to Bloghighed.org for a ton of great info on PR, publications, Web design, etc.

CUPRAP Conference Highlight

The definite highlight of this year’s CUPRAP conference in Hershey, PA was the duo of Karine Joly of collegewebeditor.com and and Mike Richwalsky, assistant director of Public Affairs at Allegheny College.
Karine’s presentation was titled “It’s The Community Stupid! 7 Step Plan to Raise & Nurture any Community Online.”
She kicked off by noting that RSS and podcasting were new/hot in 2005. In 2006 it was blogs with video being the mover in 2007 and social networking and Twitter in 2008.
She also offered several messages building upon Marshall McLuhan’s “The medium is the message.”
In 2008 she mused that “The conversation is the message.” Later in the year she offered that “The conversation is killing the messenger, the message and the recipient.”
During the CUPRAP conference she debuted: “The message is dead, the conversation — diluted on a multitude of social media –is almost impossible to follow.”
How do you catch up and keep up? She asked. The answer: “You don’t.”
You need to define what’s important to you and your create your goals.
Her seven step plan includes:
-Finding your audience’s needs
-Defining your goals
-Participatory design
-Including exclusive, invaluable content in your conversation
-Listen, identify, empower
-Cross promote
-Treat your audience as stakeholders

We’re in a relationship building business and conversations build those relationships.
It’s a masterful distillation of a process that takes shared vision, discipline and a lot of participation.

Here’s the full Powerpoint and videos.

I saw people nodding their heads as Karine reassuring us that we can’t do everything and that we’re on communication overload.  The room full of PR, publications, Web and design people sighed in relief as Karine told us to stop, breathe and think.

Yes, somebody understood and was telling us to slow down.

Then Mike came on and deftly made us sit up, pay attention, take notes, and for God’s sakes, think.

More in the next post.

Excellent Interviewing — Just Ask

I’ve never liked to rely on a formal list of questions for electronic interviews.  When you have a big list of questions, you’re attention is always on the next question and when you can ask it.

The subject picks up on this  quickly and the interview becomes a little flatter.

I usually form a list of a few questions and use them for reference.  What is more effective –for me, at least– is to ask the first question and then engage in a conversation. Let it go in whatever direction it needs to.  If the guest is passionate about his or her subject, it will be interesting.

As an interviewer you have to be interested and help maintain the conversation.  Here’s an excerpt of a discussion with a guy who rescues handicapped canines.

“How did you begin collecting three-legged dogs?”

“Well, I saw this French poodle in the shelter and knew that no one else would want her.  When she looked up at me we bonded.  It was love.  I brought her home.”

“And this became a passion?”

“There are a lot of three-legged dogs in the world.   Within a couple years I acquired several.”

“Different breeds?”

“Mm hmm. A German Shepherd, Australian Shepherd, pit bull and a Daschsund.”

How do they adapt to three legs?

“The Daschsund has the hardest time because he’s so long and low to the ground.  Sometimes he just rolls.  The pit bull just looks at you like, ‘Come on!  I might be missing a leg but I still got a good set of choppers!’

“What the greatest reward for you?”

“Knowing they have a good home and I guess, you know, being a two-legged pack leader of three-legged dogs.  We all feel special.”

Just be interested and ask questions as they come to you.  Chances are your audience would ask the same questions.

If I do have certain points I need to ask, I make sure the subject has completely finished with his or her answer.  I take a moment and look at the question then look back at the subject and ask the question in my own voice.  Never sound like you’re reading the question.

When you ask the question in your voice, looking at the subject, he or she will react in turn with an answer that’s honest and real and sounds it.  It’s a conversation.

I never worry about pauses, flubs or stutters.  Everything is cleaned up and edited.  The saying “garbage in, garbage out” applies to interviews.

Be interested and engaged you’ll wind up with a good interview (conversation) nearly every time.

How I Blew the TV Interview

I’ve been on both sides of the interview table for 30 years.  I thought I was beyond being flustered.

But a few days ago, a junior communications major turned me into a babbling idiot.
The TV club member asked me if I do an interview about the podcasting program I created a few years ago. I said I’d be happy to.
I went up to the TV studio, sat down, endured the hot lights and smiled at the nice girl who tried several times to attach the lav mic to my lapel.
I enjoyed the moment, a studio buzzing with students full of energy and a little giddy with the excitement of working cameras, directing, interviewing.
I knew Ashley, my interviewer, a little. I had done a podcast with her two years ago. As a first semester freshman, she was ready to drop out when a friend insisted she go to a meeting of the campus radio station. She did, fell in love with communications and stayed in school.
Now she was interviewing me. I glanced at the teleprompter and scanned the intro and a few of her questions.
I sat quietly. I’ve done enough interviews and productions to know that you don’t know when you’re being recorded and all the unconscious moves like jiggling your knee, wiping your nose, gazing wildly around, make you look like an idiot, and with digital technology it can be around forever.
Finally we were ready. I did a sound check and they began rolling. Ashley asked me how I got into public relations. I told her, talking directly to her in a conversational voice. I could see she wasn’t with me.
She was thinking of something else.
When I finished she nodded. “What do you like most about your job?”
Standard question. I answered, talking to her in a conversational tone, seeing that I wasn’t really engaging her. She was staring over my shoulder at the monitor.
“What’s the most memorable thing that happened to you during a podcast?” She asked vacantly.
I related a story and as I talked, I noticed her trying to communicate silently, her face showing panic.   She moved her hands up and down and shook her head. Something was happening and it had all her attention.

And for the first time ever, I forgot what I was saying and where I was going.
My voice trailed off as I realized  that I was sounding like a blundering dolt.
“Sorry,” I said. “I was watching you and totally lost my train of thought.”
She nodded and asked me the next question, but the energy was gone, the concentration shattered, my answers as exciting as oatmeal.
When it was over, I turned to her and the camera crew. “Okay, tell me what was happening?”
Ashley shook her head. “The teleprompter, the word were backwards and upside down. I freaked out because I didn’t know what the next question was and if I didn’t ask them in order they wouldn’t make sense!” She thought a moment. “I guess I need to work on my impromptu. Or maybe I should stick with radio.”
“This is going to be edited, right?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“Then everything will be okay.”
It was a good (and humbling) lesson which led me to some of the really simple secrets of interviewing which I’ll talk about in the next post.