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Here's the latest newsletter, which we wrote, from client The National Road Safety Foundation. It gives an idea of just some of the programs we've developed for them -- contests to engage teens in spreading the word about teen traffic safety, tie-ins with some of the nation's biggest auto shows, partnerships with youth groups like SADD and government agencies like NHTSA.
Good work that helps save lives. It's a good feeling.
Here's a link...
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No, this isn’t a post about the current state of politics and the presidential campaign, although that IS a sad commentary on our society. This is about a survey, reported in MediaPost’s Social Media Daily that shows we prefer to stay in touch via social media rather than with face-to-face communication.
We’ve all seen scenes like this – a group of young people sitting silently around a restaurant table – all looking down at their cellphones. In recent years, that scenario has changed so that it’s not only young people, but people of all ages – including us boomers – guilty of texting rather than talking.
The survey of some 12,000 people worldwide found that 68 percent prefer to communicate with others online rather than face-to-face. So, as MediaPost writer Erik Sass posits in his story, social media is making us anti-social.
I can understand – and I’m guilty of – the preference to stay in touch with some people online rather than in person. And that can extend to online versus contact via a phone call. Often, when I have a quick question, it’s faster to send an email. Call on the phone and you have to go through the “hi, how are you” stuff. With email, here’s what I need to know or what I want to tell you, perhaps ended with a “regards” or “hope all is well.” And that's it.
If it’s more than a quick question or if it’s something in business where there needs to be some real-time back & forth to spur creativity or consensus, face-to-face or at least ear-to-ear is best.
Social media, especially Facebook, can be great for keeping up with distant friends and relatives. But for the real inside scoop, with real emotion and real empathy, it’s hard to replace face-to-face or ear-to-ear.
Online, even ALL CAPS or cute emoticons just can’t convey real feelings or more subtle undertones. And there are risks to online communication. Think about how many times have you’ve seen a poorly-worded email or post give a wrong impression to the reader, maybe creating a problem where one hadn’t existed?
Social media has its place in our lives, for sure. But it can’t – or shouldn’t – replace direct face-to-face or ear-to-ear communications. What a boring and sterile world that would be.
I've said this before, but it bears repeating... a free and unfettered press is an essential component of the balance of power that makes our democracy work. It's part of what makes America great now.
So when a major party candidate bans media he doesn't like from covering his events, it smells like demagoguery.
He pulled press credentials from The Washington Post after it ran Op Ed pieces he didn't like. He's already banned Huffington Post and a few other online news sites whose coverage he didn't like. And he's said in his campaign speeches that he wants to change laws that protect freedom of the press, making it easier to sue media if he doesn't like what they report.
Doesn't this sound like he'd prefer state-controlled media like in Communist and dictatorial nations such as Russia and North Korea?
What I think the major media should do is, as a group, boycott his events, including his news conferences. I know this would be an unorthodox response, but we are dealing with an unorthodox person who goes by his own rules which are constantly changing.
If they stop giving him the free coverage he craves and needs to advance his campaign and his personal brand, then maybe he’ll start to play by the rules. And if he doesn’t, then he will be the one to suffer instead of our entire election process, as imperfect as it may be.
But making moves to unilaterally undo our First Amendment is not what a presidential candidate should be doing.
Print continues to struggle, and the latest numbers from MagNet, which tracks single-copy sales of magazines, shows the struggle isn't abating.
Single-copy magazine sales fell a bit more than ten percent in the first quarter of this year, as compared to first quarter sales in 2015. In actual numbers, 88.1 million single copies were sold, down from 98 million a year ago.
The categories that had the biggest declines were business and finance magazines, followed by health and fitness, and home and garden, and celebrity and gossip mags. MagNet said the declines are smaller, percentage-wise, than previous quarters... but they are still trending downward.
Readership for many of these magazines is holding steady, thanks to online viewing. For advertisers, online viewing doesn't offset losses in print sales since online readers often click past the ads.
It's a continuing challenge, for both publishers and advertisers.
I suppose it should not be a surprise, but Trump's attacks on the media have gone over the top.
His attacks on the media and on individual reporters at a news conference earlier this week emphasize how unfit he is to be President.
Calling a reporter a ‘sleazebag’ because he pressed the candidate on his donations to veterans groups takes him to a new low.. if that's possible. The media are doing their job when they ask tough questions and continue to hammer when all they get are non-answers or tangential responses aimed at distracting from the initial line of questioning. They do it to all the candidates and others who are in office.
When asked by a reporter if this is how he would behave if he made it to the White House, he said yes. Earlier in his campaign, he said as President, he’d sue reporters and media who don’t report “fairly,” leaving the definition of “fair” to his own discretion.
Major Garrett, who reports for CBS News, said on CBS This Morning that for reporters who have been covering his campaign, this behavior is not a surprise. It's fairly normal for this candidate, he said.
This candidate is hardly the only politician who lashes out at the media when reporting doesn’t go exactly as they would want it. Sarah Palin, the candidate’s partner in grime and also a name-caller, refers to the media as the “lamestream media.”
This behavior in the White House would be totally unacceptable and against the idea of a fairly transparent government. I'm not saying every President, including our current one, has never blurred the truth or evaded some lines of questioning. But civility in government is crucial to maintaining dialogue that can lead to resolution of conflict and building of trust among leaders and the citizenry. Imagine name-calling and nastiness on the floor of the Senate and the House. We know some of them can’t stand each other, but they remain civil and engage in discussion which, before obstructionism, would lead to compromise and things getting done.
The presumptive Republican nominee demonstrates none of that civility. His thin skin causes him to attack -- often childishly -- anyone he feels has treated him ‘unfairly.’ As President – heaven forbid – would he spend precious time and attention on name-calling reporters who report the truth as they see it, or who ask the probing questions they are supposed to if they are doing their jobs?
As President, it seems like he’d ignore the Constitution’s very first Amendment – the one guaranteeing Freedom of the Press. That seems to be in step with his calls for action that would ignore other amendments like Freedom of Religion as well as Civil Rights laws passed 40 and 50 years ago.
I know the media will continue, as they should, asking tough questions and probing… not only of Trump, but of Clinton, Sanders and others in offices high and low.
Right from the early days of this nation, our founding fathers recognized the importance of a free press as a way to inform the public about what our elected leaders – people we pay with our tax dollars – are doing on our behalf. That’s the role of the media, even if some candidates don’t like it.