HAROLD DENTON: Everyman in a watershed crisis

It may not be front and center among life's concerns, but we've all wondered if it could happen to us.  Could we be yanked out of our normal workaday routine at a moment's notice and find ourselves in the center of a transcendent crisis that define's our company's future - our industry's - or perhaps our own?

Harold Denton (left) tours the Three Mile Island facility with President Jimmy Carter, April 1979.  Public domain photo courtesy Wikipedia.

It happened to Harold Denton.  In the late 1970's, he ran an obscure federal agency responsible for the inspection and licensing of nuclear power reactors.   Then, on March 28, 1979, came the partial meltdown at the Three Mile Island plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.    It remains the worst nuclear accident in American history. 

Denton passed away last month at the age of 80, and the resulting coverage made a new generation aware of his calm, steady leadership in a near disaster.  Courtesy The Washington Post.

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APPLE CEO: FAKE NEWS IS "KILLING PEOPLE'S MINDS"

Apple CEO Tim Cook visiting the Brit School for Performing Arts and Technology.  Photo and full article at The Daily Telegraph. 

At 56, Tim Cook is old enough to remember how environmental awareness first started to achieve a critical mass of supporters in the 1970's.  He was 9 years old when the first Earth Day celebrations took place in colleges, primary and secondary schools, and hundreds of communities across the United States - the result of a concerted public education campaign by environmentalists and political activists. 

Now, the CEO of the world's largest company says a similar campaign is necessary to stem the tide of take news, saying technology firms and governments need to lead the charge against unscrupulous firms that profit from fabrications. “It’s killing people’s minds in a way,” he says.  Courtesy The Daily Telegraph.

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DOES CALLING OUT "EVIL" AMOUNT TO EDITORIALIZING?

A still frame from the video that the Chicago teenager's abductors streamed live.  Via WBBM-TV.

A mentally disabled teenager in Chicago is abducted, tied up, beaten, and made to drink toilet water by his captors.  By any reasonable definition, that's evil - and in our everyday lives it's an easy conclusion to reach, one that can be based on readily available and widely reported facts. 

But we live in an era when the very definition of truth seems to be up for grabs.  So perhaps it's a sign of the times when both elements of the media and our nation's leaders have difficulty calling this episode what it so clearly is, writes columnist Elizabeth Scalia.  And the issue comes into sharper focus when we are able to stream the episode on our own laptops and decide for ourselves.  Courtesy aleteia.org. 

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THE BIG NAME BRANDS THAT INADVERTENTLY FUND FAKE NEWS

The journalism field has been waking up to the reality of fakery.  Fake news - stories with little or no basis in fact - can quickly acquire a life of their own on the Internet, probably for the same deeply human reason that motorists slow down to gawk at a car wreck.

Fake news (the item about Yoko Ono and Hillary Clinton is a complete fabrication) appearing alongside an ad from a major automobile manufacturer.   Illustration from The Wall Street Journal. 

What's escaped notice, until very recently, is who's footing the bill.  It turns out that ads for major, well-known brands frequently appear alongside fake news items.  It's a reflection of the complexity of online advertising.  "Multiple middlemen are often involved, leaving both publishers and advertisers uncertain about which ads will appear where."  Courtesy The Wall Street Journal.

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TRUMP'S DATA TEAM SAW THE DATA DIFFERENTLY

Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Phoenix, 2016.  Photo by Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons. 

The 2016 presidential election is already being described as the race where "data died."  But did it die - or was it just hidden because no one was looking in the right places? 

It's early, but a preliminary analysis indicates that Donald Trump's team of data scientists, based in San Antonio, Texas, "picked up disturbances—like falling pressure before a hurricane—that others weren’t seeing. It was the beginning of the storm that would deliver Trump to the White House." 

In the end, it appears Trump tapped into an angry class of voters that no candidate has spoken to for decades.  Courtesy Bloomberg News.

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POLITICAL JOURNALISM DEEMED "BROKEN" IN TRUMP VICTORY AFTERMATH

A Trump rally in Cincinnati, October 2016.  Photo by By Bill Huber from Goshen, Ohio, via Wikimedia Commons.

The nation's newspaper of record called it a "Dewey Beats Truman lesson for the digital age."  How could so many reporters across so wide a swath of territory have missed the movement that propelled Donald Trump into the Oval Office?  The answers to that question are as much cultural as journalistic, and no doubt will be studied by pollsters and academics for years to come. 

"The misfire on Tuesday night was about a lot more than a failure in polling," wrote media columnist and former political reporter Jim Rutenberg.  "It was a failure to capture the boiling anger of a large portion of the American electorate...political journalism is broken, for sure."  Courtesy The New York Times.

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APPLE RETHINKING COMPUTER KEYBOARDS

The earliest typewriter keys in the 1860's were arranged in the order of the Latin alphabet, but were found lacking for a variety of mechanical reasons in the earliest machines.  The origins of the QWERTY keyboard that succeeded it are murky - and appear to have lasted this long only because so many people have learned to touch-type that way for generations. 

Technology appears to be on the verge of allowing alternatives to QWERTY that would cut the keyboard loose from its Latin moorings.  Apple Computer is said to be developing a new keyboard for its laptops that will be able to operate in any alphabet, and carry an unlimited number of emojis.  Courtesy The Wall Street Journal.

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WHEN THE NUMBERS DON'T TELL THE STORY

As the election season enters the home stretch, expect politicians to argue over worldviews and policies, claims and counterclaims, summoning countless facts and figures as support.   The problem for those of us listening to the litany is only increasing:  How do we sort through which numbers actually mean something, versus those that score primarily rhetorical points?

"Even if the statistics themselves are absolutely accurate, the words that describe what they are measuring can be grossly misleading," writes economist and political theorist Thomas Sowell.  For some media, however, the alarming statistics can serve a transcendent purpose: they make for a better story that way.  Courtesy National Review.

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AN UNCEREMONIOUS END FOR AN UNSCRUPULOUS SITE

In this case, the G in the Gawker logo stands for "gone."

Gawker.com, the media gossip site, will officially go dark next week after 14 years in operation - unable to withstand a $140 million judgment following an invasion of privacy lawsuit by former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan.

Although some First Amendment defenders felt Gawker's demise sent a chilling signal about press freedom, many critics cheered.  "(It's) a satisfying comeuppance for a blog that not only didn't pull punches but sometimes aimed below the belt," writes USA Today.

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TRUMP'S MEDIA STYLE EMERGES AN UNLIKELY WINNER

Donald Trump accepts the GOP presidential nomination in Cleveland.  Image from Reuters.

Not many people saw it coming just eleven months ago, when Donald Trump announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination.  But now, as the GOP convention wraps up with the New York real estate billionaire as its nominee, it's time to ask - how exactly did Trump win by breaking all the rules?

"As Trump has invented stories, offended Americans and made arguments that reveal his ignorance of the separation of powers...he has done so in a style that remained convincing to millions of voters," writes media specialist and former CNN correspondent Allan Chernoff.   "The vocal and visual qualities of his presentation tell an audience he firmly believes every word coming out of his mouth, and so should they."  Courtesy Fortune. 

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A LIVE STREAM WORLD - and what it means for newsgathering

Police take cover behind a vehicle outside a parking garage in downtown Dallas early Friday, July 8, 2016. (AP Photo)

This might not be the best time to invest in a cable news network, says New York Times media arts columnist Farhad Manjoo.  Last week's police shootings, he says, crystallized a trend in which anyone in the right place at the right time can grab their smartphone and become an instant journalist. 

The events, he argues, amounted to "live streaming’s Gulf War, a moment that will catapult the technology into the center of the news — and will begin to inexorably alter much of television news as we know it."  But other media critics question whether this is such a good thing: if the shootings demonstrated the power of live streaming, are we ready for live murders?  Courtesy The Indian Express.

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REMEMBERING ELIE WIESEL

Steve Dunlop outside Elie Wiesel's Manhattan office, October 14, 1986.  Courtesy WNYW.

"It was drizzling when I arrived for work and my mind was elsewhere," recalls Dunlop Media president and former New York television reporter Steve Dunlop of a remarkable morning in October 1986.  "My thoughts were mostly about the Mets," who were battling the Houston Astros at the time to go on to the World Series. 

Then word crossed the wires from Oslo, Norway, that Elie Wiesel, the first-person chronicler of the Nazi Holocaust, had won the Nobel Peace Prize.   As a local reporter, Dunlop had known little about Wiesel, who died on July 2 at the age of 87.  He learned of the author and Holocaust survivor only the year before, when Wiesel stirred controversy by publicly pleading with President Reagan not to visit a Nazi cemetery on a visit to West Germany. 

Elie Wiesel accepting calls of congratulation in his office after winning the Nobel Peace Prize, October 14, 1986.  Courtesy Fox Television/WNYW. 

When WNYW's assignment desk discovered that Wiesel was at his office in New York, Dunlop had to forget about the Mets.  He quickly read up on Wiesel's life and landed a one-on-one interview with him. 

"My crew and I arrived no more than an hour or two after the news broke," Dunlop remembers. "Wiesel was already on the phone, accepting messages of congratulations from around the world, switching effortlessly back and forth from one language to another.  It was pretty impressive."

But what impressed Dunlop most was Wiesel's humility and sense of serenity in the face of the worldwide acclaim.  "He told me how the Nobel Committee woke him up with the news.  He genuinely wasn't expecting it," he says.  "He struck me as a deeply spiritual, gentle and learned man.  I left feeling honored to have met him." 

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BRANDED CONTENT SPECIALISTS, MEET THE CROWDCULTURE

The Internet, especially social media, was supposed to herald a golden age of branded content.  But some of the most carefully planned and expensive online branding strategies have fizzled - largely because consumers aren't showing up.  The problem, argues former Harvard Business School professor Douglas Holt, is an unforeseen phenomenon that ubiquitous social media has made possible: he calls it the crowdculture. 

"Powerful cultural innovators ... [are] now so effective at producing creative entertainment that it's impossible for companies to compete," Holt argues.  In place of conventional branding, Holt offers case histories for a new model: one that embraces burgeoning crowdculture communities, and champions their ideas in the marketplace.  Courtesy Harvard Business Review.

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WHAT JEFF BEZOS IS TEACHING NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS

This fall will mark the third anniversary of the purchase of the Washington Post by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.  It's a good time to take stock: Have Bezos's improvements at the paper been primarily driven by the money he's brought in?  Or is he doing things in a fundamentally different way that even career media people can learn from?

"There are areas — some specific, some more attitudinal — from which newspapers could in fact benefit by studying the Bezos model," writes Northeastern University media professor Dan Kennedy.  Among them: the significant benefits to private ownership; the Post was a publicly traded company prior to the Bezos takeover.  Courtesy the Neiman Lab. 

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PELLEY GUARDS CBS NEWS' HARD-NEWS HERITAGE

One of Dunlop Media president (and former CBS correspondent) Steve Dunlop's fondest memories of Scott Pelley was shortly after he took over as anchor of the CBS Evening News in 2011.  The door to Studio 57, where the program originates, sported a sign that read "The CBS Evening News With Scott Pelley."  The new anchor ordered his name removed, and in its place, the words, "With All of Us."

It's been five years since Pelley's collegial, no-nonsense style began to put its stamp on what CBS veterans still call "the broadcast." In many ways, there is nothing new about his interpretation.   Media writer Roger Yu calls Pelley a "deliberate pivot back to the Edward R. Murrow-Walter Cronkite heritage" that viewers still associate with the CBS brand.  Courtesy USA Today.

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JAPAN CRACKS DOWN ON REPORTERS

As journalists observed World Press Freedom Day on May 3, the latest country in the doghouse for stifling the work of the fourth estate might surprise some observers: Japan.  Three top Japanese journalists resigned in March as fears mounted that the Japanese government was pressuring them to soft-pedal coverage of some hot-button topics, including the easing of long standing restraints on Japan’s armed forces. 

An independent liaison for the United Nations investigated the issue, speaking with journalists, educators and government officials.  His subsequent report was scathing.   "The independence of the [Japanese] press is facing serious threats,” he said.  Courtesy USA Today. 

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CANDIDATES BURNED BY NYC'S "HOT KITCHEN" TABLOID CULTURE

New York Daily News front page, April 7, 2016.

In our increasingly digital world, it's no exaggeration to note that in the corpus of New York City still beats the heart of newspapers.   Some of the largest and most influential broadsheets and tabloids are headquartered here, and they are fundamentally different from their peers in other cities - as 2016's crop of presidential contenders is learning. 

“Candidates come here, and they are thinking, ‘I just said this one little thing as an aside to a reporter and now it is a blaring headline. I don’t know how this happened,’” said former journalist and longtime New York political adviser George Arzt. “They don’t understand this is a world unto itself. It’s nothing like the media in the rest of the country.”  Courtesy The Los Angeles Times.

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ARE SMARTPHONES MAKING US FEEL POWERLESS?

In communications training we know how important physical aspects of communication can be - especially positive body language.  But how people use smartphones may point to a factor most people don't consider: your own negative body language doesn't just affect the person you're talking to - it affects you.

What psychologists term the "powerless position" - or what most laypeople would call "slouching" - may have a biological effect on the body, increasing the stress hormone cortisol and decreasing testosterone.   "The good news," writes the author, "is that bad posture is fairly easy to correct - if you're thinking about it."  Courtesy Quartz.

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MEMO TO CEO's: GET WITH THE SOCIAL MEDIA PROGRAM

It's time for CEO's to fully embrace social media, argues the author.  Photo from Flickr user highwaysengland via FastCompany. 

What do you get for the corporate leader who has everything?  How about a Twitter account?  A new report from CEO.com finds that more than 60 percent of Fortune 500 chief executives have no social media presence whatsoever - while consumer trends are heading in the opposite direction.

"Each morning, I start my day by looking through a Twitter feed that I set up to monitor any mentions of my company," says Hootsuite CEO Ryan Holmes.  Hootsuite is, of course, a social media monitoring company, so it's in Holmes's interest to practice what he promotes.  Nevertheless, he argues that "the era of CEOs remaining aloof and in the shadows, never mixing with mere mortals, is over."  Courtesy FastCompany.

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CLICKBAIT LOSING TRUST WITH USERS

We've all encountered it, at one time or another, on so-called online news sites: the headline with the enticing hook, asking a sometimes provocative question - the answer for which the actual article doesn't really deliver.  It's known as clickbait - the idea being to lure the user into "clicking" to the next page, thereby generating more page views (and more ad dollars) for the site. 

Like all gimmicks, however, clickbait may be finally wearing thin.  The author argues that content proiders engaging in the practice may be losing trust with the eyeballs' owners - on whom their livelihoods increasingly depend.  Courtesy Content Standard.

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