my 2 cents

Don't cry for Mommy Bloggers

I have a problem with Mommy Bloggers.  I know I'm generalizing, but it seems like too many of them, especially those with larger readerships, are all about money -- and blatantly so.

I do understand that for many it's a business or, at least, a way to supplement the family income while working from home.  But the idea of "pay or don't play" that many seem to use as criteria for what products and services they write about goes against the basic standards of journalism.

Many of these bloggers will write about a product in exchange for freebies.  I don't have a problem with that, since offering product samples has long been an accepted way of calling an editor's attention to a product.  Of course, way before blogging there were always a few editors who would take advantage by asking for an inordinate number of samples or refusing to return very costly sample items after the agreed-upon trial period was over. 

But some of the Mommy Bloggers have taken greed to new heights.  We've all heard stories of some who refuse to write about a product unless the company or the p.r. agency gives them expensive gifts or a free all-expenses paid trip to Disney World.

If they want to monetize their sites, take ads.  But no, they can't get big bucks for banner ads, so instead they try to hold up marketers for cash or booty.  But when they take cash in exchange for writing glowingly about a product and telling readers it has their personal stamp of approval, they are doing the marketers, themselves and other mommy bloggers a disservice.

They are blowing their credibility... along with the credibility of other bloggers who fall into the mommy blogger realm.  Over time, many readers will catch on and will ignore the glowing recommendations some marketers are shelling out for.

To me, it's about integrity.  If you get paid for a product review -- in cash, with freebies or in some other manner -- you owe it to your readers to disclose that fact.  If your blog posts are interesting, informative or entertaining, you'll hold onto your readers.  But without full disclosure, you are not being fair or honest.  Over time, you may lose readers, which will then diminish your ability to extort payments from marketers.

PR Newser had a story a few weeks ago about some of the bigger Mommy Bloggers who sell articles.  It seems some are complaining about smaller Mommy Bloggers who give away ad space in exchange for freebies.  That practice annoys the big guns who are trying to make money from their sites.

I say to those crybabies, suck it up and deal with it!  Startup magazines often give ad space away in their early issues, in order to fill space and to make the book look good so they can sell space eventually to paying advertisers.  If bloggers looking to build their sites want to give space away, that's their choice.

So you bigger Mommy Bloggers -- stop complaining and focus on making your own content as good and unbiased as possible.  If you so choose, then keep trying to sell ad or editorial space, as long as you clearly mark it for what it is.

And don't worry about what other bloggers are doing.  You have no control over them anyway, so why bother?

Here's the really big news about TV

The networks have been boasting about the strength of the upfront this year, as they've gotten solid buy commitments and good prices for next season.  So maybe network TV isn't dead, after all.

And a report just came out calling TV "King of the Hill" when it comes to influence with consumers. 

What, then, could be bigger news from the world of TV?

Hollywood Reporter says "Sesame Street," now in its 40th season on PBS, enjoyed its best ratings in three years, up 60 percent from a year ago.  The lucrative 2-5 demo is watching Big Bird, Bert & Ernie, Elmo and the new host (who seems to have taken over from Kermit the Frog) Murray the Monster.  The TV Academy has nominated the series for 14 Emmy awards.

It's nice to see that in the midst of all the lowest-common-denominator reality shows, one network -- albeit, the non-commercial one -- has remained true to quality programming.

Kudos to Sesame Street, which I still enjoy watching (now with my grandson).

No surprise

So much of local TV news these days is about sex, scandal and celebrities gone astray, rather than about local news and issues that really impact our lives.   It's all about ratings, of course.  But what used to be the staple of local TV news only during sweeps weeks now seems to be the daily routine.

That gut feeling has been authenticated by a study just out from the Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California

The study analyzed 14 days of local news programming, with several thousand news stories that aired on Los Angeles' local newscasts. 

Local government news such as budgets, law enforcement, healthcare, immigration, transit garnered an average of 22 seconds in a typical news hour.  When you take out 10 minutes for ads and promos, 22 seconds represents less than one-tenth of a percent of total news content.Sports and weather each got a bit more than 3 - 1/2 minutes, or about seven percent of the total newscast.  Crime stories got an average of just under three minutes.  Soft stories and human interest got two and a half minutes.  I didn't see a breakdown for gossip/celebrity news, but I'm guessing that clocked in at at least 2 - 3 minutes --probably more during times when Tiger was getting unmasked and Lindsay was falling down drunk again.

Most Americans still rely on TV for their news every day, so these numbers are pretty scary.  Maybe it also helps explain why so many of us are clueless when it comes to news beyond our neighborhoods and beyond our borders. 

Most decent newspapers still do a fairly good job of reporting important local news, with national and international coverage coming to them by the wire services, if not from their own out-of-town bureaus.  But here's the problem... as we know, fewer people these days, especially younger people, are reading the papers.

Not to sound like an alarmist, but an uninformed populace makes it easier for unqualified or ill-intentioned politicians to get elected, stay in office and do bad things.

So it would seem that what's on local TV news really does matter, in a way much more important to all of us than the Nielsen ratings.

Weekend Thoughts

A PR Grand Slam for an Issue of Life or Death

 

We all know the power of talk show queen Oprah, whose endorsement of a book can make it an overnight best-seller.  And we know how much Government can do to push an issue, harnessing seemingly endless manpower and equally endless financial resources.

I was part of a project that brought these two awesome forces together this week in the effort to reduce the death toll from distracted driving by convincing people not to text or use cell phones while they drive. 

Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood calls distracted driving “a national epidemic” that is hitting young people especially hard.  Nearly 5,900 people died last year in distracted driving-related crashes, and another half a million were injured.  A disproportionate number of them are young people, who are the biggest texters. 

I’m writing this on the Amtrak as I return home from Washington, where I was part of this awesome public relations effort.  As I mentioned in a post a few weeks ago, I encouraged one of my clients, The National Road Safety Foundation, to team up with a national coalition of youth organizations – National Organizations for Youth Safety (NOYS) – to create a public service announcement on distracted driving.  We invited teens to give us their ideas for a PSA addressing the issue, and the 16-year old whose idea we used was brought to New York to participate in the actual production of the 30-second spot.  It resonated with the target group of young people because it was created by a young person rather than by suits sitting in an ad agency or a corporate office.

Secretary LaHood has supported the effort from the start, doing TV interviews to promote it, lending his name to our efforts to encourage teens to participate, and then taking the time Thursday to join us in a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, where he personally thanked the National Road Safety Foundation and introduced to the media both the new PSA and Bethany Brown, the Arizona high school student who conceived it for us.  He also posted the PSA on his official blog and on the Dept. of Transportation’s website distraction.gov.

So that’s our part so far in this massive effort.  The heavy ammunition was rolled out Friday, when Oprah devoted her entire show to making people aware of the dangers of distracted driving and trying hard to convince them to change their behavior behind the wheel. 

She was on all three network news shows Friday morning, talking about distracted driving and encouraging people to take a pledge to make their cars a “no-phone zone.”  Then, her own show rallied people in five cities including Washington, where I was part of a group that went to the Newseum, the museum of journalism, to support the call for no texting and cell phones whole driving.  Oprah’s friend and business partner Gayle King hosted the D.C. event, and Secretary LaHood stopped by to talk by satellite with Oprah about his agency’s full support, which includes pushing legislative and enforcement efforts – 23 states have already enacted no texting while driving laws, and Secretary LaHood is directing Federal funding to support extensive police crackdowns in test cities Hartford and Syracuse.  Experience shows that changing driving behavior takes three components – awareness/education, legislation and enforcement of that legislation.  Look at seat belt and drunk driving efforts.

It’s reminiscent of grass roots efforts some 40 years ago when outraged families of drunk driving victims began groups like MADD and SADD.  It starts with the telling and retelling of some tragic stories of innocent people killed by drivers who were too busy texting or looking at their phones to pay attention to the road until it was too late.  I've met some of these people and heard their stories firsthand and it breaks your heart.

The difference this time is that a media heavyweight like Oprah is personally involved in the effort.  She has the clout and power of persuasion that perhaps simply didn’t exist 40 years ago.  It’s good that she’s harnessing that clout for a good cause.

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Today begins National Youth Traffic Safety Month.  If you have a teen at home, encourage him or her to go to the NOYS or NRSF site to find out more.