REICH COMMUNICATIONS

The News Release is NOT Dead

It seems we hear a proclamation every few months that the news release is dead -- a dinosaur used only by out-of-touch p.r. people.

The latest talk began with a column last week in Advertising Age.  I was going to post a comment at Ad Age.com, but I wasn't quite sure if columnist Simon Dumenico was serious or trying to be sarcastric.

I guess he was serious, because Ad Age is now running a reader poll to see what the rest of us think.  Last time I looked, most of the comments were saying the news release is still a viable p.r. tool.

Now I see PR News is adding to the chatter, with a story about the dying news release planned for their next issue.

Enough already!  Those saying the news release is dead seem to come from three groups.  There are the people who work for media distribution companies, trying to get us to believe they have the solution to get information out to the media in a way the standard news release can no longer accomplish.

The others claiming the death of the release work mainly in the digital arena.  Anything that's not digital or formated to be "digital-friendly" is a waste, they say.  The rest are just looking to get some publicity for themselves, since the subject is still good fodder for the trades.

Whichever group they're from, they're wrong.  The news release still plays a useful role in the PR arsenal.  The news release puts information out in the words of the issuer.  It usually contains information that serves as good background for reporters.  Quotes in the news release enable reporters to include a spokesperson's words, even if they don't have the chance to actually conduct an interview themselves.

While it's true that media now get information in many ways, including via social media interaction, the news release still does get used by the media, including online media.

Dumenico, writing in Ad Age, talked about gossip media getting information directly from Twitter and Facebook rather than from news releases issued by celebs' managers or press agents.  He may be right about that  segment of the media, but for most other media, news releases still are useful.

Of course, releases need to be properly targeted.  But that's nothing new.  Professionals did proper research and targeting long before the digital age.

But, despite what some are saying, the news release is alive and well.  It remains one tool in the expanding array of tools we use to get the word out to the public through the media... including digital and social media.

  

A new type of J-School

The City University of New York announced this week that it is offering a new degree in what it is calling Entrepreneurial Journalism.   The degree will be a Master of Arts, conferred by CUNY’s Graduate School of Journalism.

What’s significant about this is the academic recognition of the changes in the business of journalism. Note that I didn’t say “changes in journalism.”   The basics of journalism remain the same – clear, concise writing, reporting on the Who, What, When, Where and Why, maintaining objectivity unless opinion is clearly identified as opinion.

But the business of journalism – or the business of being a journalist – has changed in ways we haven’t seen in generations.  When TV news began, it added the elements of telling a story in pictures and sound bites to the mix.  With the advent of faxes, cell phones and then the internet, journalists could file their stories from virtually anywhere.  And as the news cycle has become a 24/7 constantly changing flow, journalists are learning to file the basics quickly and then constantly update, via laptops or even smartphones.

Those changes, though, go beyond the process of gathering, reporting and analyzing news.  It’s a different world for journalists.

Many journalists are finding themselves functioning as business people as well as reporters.  Journalists who had what they thought were secure jobs at newspapers and magazines or in news departments at TV and radio stations have seen their jobs disappear with downsizing caused by shrinking audiences and/or shrinking ad dollars.  Some migrated over to public relations jobs, but many have moved into blogging for a living.  Former reporters and columnists at media outlets large and small now write blogs that focus on subjects they had covered for their paper or station.  At the same time, they’re trying to figure out how to get paid for their work, by selling their content in one form or another or by finding advertisers and other income sources for their blogs.

To make money as a journalist online, you have to be more than a writer.  You must be an entrepreneur.  Unless you land a job writing for a big online publication that can afford to pay its writers a living wage, you’re on your own.  Many people can write well enough to maintain an interesting and informative blog that can draw readers.  But making money from such an endeavor is another story.

And that’s part of what this new Entrepreneurial Journalism degree is about.   According to a report in The New York Times, it will blend traditional journalism, technology and business more closely together, so a new crop of journalists will be better trained to make a living while doing quality journalism, even if the outlet they work for isn’t The New York Times, but their own blog or online magazine.

Stephen Shepard, the dean of the graduate J- school at CUNY and a former Business Week editor, says “We’re all very concerned  about sustaining quality journalism, and … the future of journalism is going to be entrepreneurial.”

I think the school is on the right track and so do, obviously, the Tow Foundation and the Knight Foundation, which are funding the new Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism with grants of, respectively, $1 million and $3 million.

It’s an encouraging sign that solid journalism will survive in this new age of instant news.

Who Do You Trust?

 

When it comes to trusting news sources, who do we turn to? 

A quarter of us say we have a great deal of confidence in newspapers, and almost as many (23 percent) say we trust TV news.  Although those numbers have remained the same for the past 3 - 4 years, they've dropped considerably since 1993, when 46 percent said they trusted TV news "a great deal" and 31 said the same about newspapers.

Even ten years ago, the numbers were much better -- 34 percent trusted TV news and 36 percent trusted newspapers.

The numbers come from the annual Gallup Confidence in Institutions survey.

Whether they trust it or not, local TV news continues to be our leading source of news.  Fifty-one percent of Americans say they tune into the news on TV every day.  Cable news and newspapers are the daily source for 40 percent of us.  Thirty-one percent of Americans polled say the internet is their key daily news source.

So who came in as less trustworthy than the news media?  At the bottom of the list, garnering "a great deal of confidence" from only 11 percent of Americans is... Congress.  And that's down from 17 percent a year ago!

Big business has the confidence of only 19 percent.  Police have the confidence of 59 percent of us.  Small business gets 66 percent, and the military has a 76 percent vote of confidence.

Sadly, the criminal justice system gets only a 27 percent vote of confidence; the Supreme Court gets 36 percent.  We're a pretty tough crowd, it seems.

 

DVRs Increase TV Ratings, But at What Cost?

A study issued last week and reported in Thursday's Media Daily News says the growing availability and popularity of DVRs is increasing TV viewership.  Total viewership is up 4 percent for the past TV season, the study says, when live viewing plus seven days of time-shifted (TiVo or DVR) viewing are added together.

C3 ratings, which is the combination of live viewing plus time-shifted viewing over the following three days, are also up, by 3 percent.  C3 ratings are what most ad agencies use when they figure CPMs as a cost measurement for efficiency of ads they buy.

Looking at averages for all viewers, CBS, which led the pack last year, gained 2 percent in prime time last season to maintain its lead with 10.4 million average viewers.  NBC gained 16 percent, with 7.6 million average primetime viewers.  Fox stayed level at 8.9 million, and ABC dropped by 6 percent to 7.5 million.  Way behind already, the CW lost another 5 percent to 1.6 million.

But here's a question I don't see being asked... although time-shifting has contributed to an increase in TV viewing, how many of the ads in those time-shifted programs are actually being watched?

If most homes are like ours, they fast-forward right through the ads to get back to the program content.  That, along with the ability to watch a program when you want to, is one of the pleasures of the DVR.  But at $150,000 and up for a typical primetime 30 second spot, will advertisers decide the added audience brought by time-shifting may not be worth the added price the networks will try to charge?

Let's put it on Pause while we ponder that.

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Never forget

           Our hearts still ache.

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Maybe there's hope after all

Are reality shows losing popularity?

Maybe America's taste in TV entertainment is finally rising out of the gutter a bit.  That's what it seems like, based on a survey just released by TiVo and reported in yesterday's TV Week trade newsletter.

The survey shows reality fatigue may be setting in, with 40 percent of respondents saying reality TV is the most overdone TV theme.  Are we finally getting too much of the obnoxious and stupid behavior of some of the reality "stars" like Snooki?  Can it be that we read in Page Six so much about their bar brawls, drunk driving arrests, threats to strike if crazy pay demands aren't met that we...finally... have had enough?

I remember watching some of the early reality shows way back. I enjoyed "Survivor" and "Big Brother" at first, but I hated the backstabbing and petty jealousy and spats.  That's what caused me to eventually tune out.  I watched "The Apprentice" despite my distaste for the arrogant blowhard Donald Trump, but that show, too, quickly degraded into focusing on the pettiness and histrionics of the contestants.

My wife is hooked on "The Biggest Loser" and I do still find myself watching it.  I must admit, that show acts as an inspiration for many people who need to lose weight.  But too much of it focuses on the behind-the-scenes backstabbing.  I just can't watch it for a full hour (or two).

As for shows like "Jersey Shore" and "Real Housevives," I have tried watching them just to see what the fuss is about.  I just can't do it... why would I want to watch some lowlife kids or spoiled 40-something women behaving badly?  It's not entertaining to me; it's annoying and upsetting.

Finally, the networks seem to be putting more emphasis on quality scripted programming.  And cable has so many well-written shows on the air now that our TV (or our DVR) is tuned more often to HBO, Showtime, AMC, TNT or USA than to NBC, CBS, ABC or FOX. (Sorry CW, you're not on my radar.)

Of course, I know I'm not the typical TV viewer.  And I also know that people don't necessarily do what they say they'll do when they're polled.   There's a good chance many of the 40 percent who said they're tired of reality shows will, in the end, watch the reality drivel that's thrown at them.  Didn't I just read, after all, that "Jersey Shore" brought some of the best ratings ever for MTV?

Time (and Nielsen) will tell.  We can only hope.

    

      graphic: YuBlog

A New Year... Hopefully, with Peace

Rosh HaShana, the Jewish New Year, begins tonight.  It's not like the secular New Year, with parties and noisemakers and drinks.  

Instead, for Jews around the world, the Holidays are a time to reflect -- a time of thanks and of self-assessment.  We thank God for all the wonderful things He's given us and for Life itself.  And we look at how we've behaved over the past year and where we've made mistakes.  We ask God for forgiveness and for help and guidance to do better in the coming year.

In the end, it's very simply about doing the right thing -- treating others the way you would like to be treated.  After all the symbolism and tradition, that's really what it boils down to.  And that's what we all should strive for every day -- not only on the Holidays.

From what I read and hear, all major religions are pretty much about doing that right thing.  So I find it puzzling when I read about people protesting in order to deny others a place to pray and share their religious beliefs as a way to promote understanding.  I also find it puzzling that a minister -- a supposed man of God -- would promote the burning of other people's holy books.  The Koran may not be my bible, but I respect others' right to read and follow it.  Burning books... are we going back to the days leading to the Holocaust?  

The minister leading the book burning has, I've heard, a very small congregation.  So why is the media giving him so much attention -- much more than he merits, it seems.  A guy with a congregation of perhaps 50 people is getting a national pulpit and his actions of intolerance and hatred may bring other acts of hatred -- and likely violence -- in response.  Is the media being his pawn and helping him fan the flames?

I wonder.

Regardless... To all, Jewish or not -- best wishes for a Happy, Healthy and Peaceful Year.