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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AL-JAZEERA AMERICA TO CLOSE SHOP IN APRIL

Ending a novel experiment that some saw as doomed from the start, Al-Jazeera America, the US television news arm of the Arab based network, announced it would be signing off in April following a disappointing rollout and inability to attract viewers.

Al-Jazeera America began its run two and a half years ago by hiring some top-notch journalists with long backgrounds at established US broadcast networks.   In recent months, however, there were some high-profile exits - publicity around which seemed only to exacerbate what industry observers saw as an intractable branding problem.  Courtesy Deadline Hollywood.

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HOW CHARLIE BROWN ESCAPED THE GRINCH

This year marks the 50th anniversary of A Charlie Brown Christmas, the animated special that represented the first foray into television for Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz.  But behind that well-known story is another:  one about how CBS (the network on which the program originally aired) almost allowed A Charlie Brown Christmas to die before it was born - because of nervousness over a Bible passage at the high point of the narrative.

"Charles Schulz had some ideas that challenged the way of thinking of those executives," writes talk radio executive and producer Lee Habeeb.  It leads us to ask - to paraprhase Charlie Brown himself - "does anyone know what TV is all about?"  Courtesy National Review.

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DI BLASIO AND ROOM 9: A deteriorating relationship

New York mayor Bill DiBlasio taking questions from reporters in the Blue Room at City Hall.  Photo by Yana Paskova for The New York Times.

They are known as the "Room 9" crowd:  credentialed reporters who cover the political beat at New York City Hall - where the press room (Room 9) is just down the hall from the Blue Room, where press conferences are usually held. 

The denizens of Room 9 have seen mayors come and go, but rarely have such high hopes for transparency been laid so low as with current New York Mayor Bill DiBlasio.  "While the mayor does hold news conferences, he frequently limits questions to a predetermined topic. The shift has not gone unnoticed," writes The New York Times.  "The New York Press Club has publicly objected to it, and reporters have started to ignore the restrictions."

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YOGI AND THE POTATOES

When baseball legend Yogi Berra passed away at the age of 90, he was remembered almost universally for his kindness, his wisdom, and his ubiquitous malapropisms.  Dunlop Media founder Steve Dunlop remembered him for the potatoes. 

On a visit to North Dakota, a leading potato producer, Berra famously said, "You don't have enough potatoes to fill my front lawn." Watch what happened below. Steve Dunlop reports. From WNYW-TV Channel 5, November 26, 1985.

EUROPEAN PUBLISHERS TAKE ON GOOGLE

While for much of the Western world, Google has become as ubiquitous - and indispensable - as water, a growing number of publishing entities in Europe are increasingly cautious.  They are looking for ways to reclaim revenue lost to the digital economy, and Google is one American company that appears to be in their collective sights.

"The goal is clear," writes The New York Times.  "Find ways to make more money, by strengthening copyright rules and limiting Google’s power as an advertising platform."

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MAKING THE DIFFERENCE IN A PR DISASTER

Subway, the iconic fast food brand, is weathering a serious blow to its image after law enforcement authorities raided the home of company spokesman Jared Fogle in connection with a child pornography investigation.  The company has been in damage control mode ever since word of the probe first surfaced. 

"When drama unfolds, it's easy to freeze up," notes FastCompany magazine.  "Who makes the decisions? Who puts out a statement? What media outlets do you respond or reach out to?"  Lessons learned in the school of hard knocks are painful, but provide some valuable insight - and practical answers to those questions.

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The key, says FastCompany, is to act before your reputation gets crumpled.   Photo: Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post via Getty Images

WE LOVE THE FIRST AMENDMENT - Whatever that is

"Congress shall make no law..." many Americans ignorant of First Amendment content.  Photo by Susan Walsh, AP, via USA Today.

A sobering study from the Newseum Institute finds that while Americans are broadly in favor of the First Amendment - many aren't familiar with just what is in it.  One-third of Americans can't name any of the rights it guarantees.

"Less than two-thirds of survey respondents – 57% vs. 68% a year ago -- were able to cite freedom of speech as one protected by the amendment," reports USA Today.  "Only 19% were able to cite the freedom of religion, down from 29%."  

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WILL "MINI MURDOCH" INHERIT HIS DAD'S GOLDEN GUT?

Rupert and James Murdoch at an Anti-Defamation League conference.  Courtesy The Gateway Pundit.

"Tabloid media moguls like (Rupert) Murdoch do not create public taste: they reflect it," wrote British journalist James Delingpole in 2013.  Whether that taste whets your appetite or makes you nauseous, the question arises: what's James Murdoch's reflector like?  

With reports surfacing that the 84-year old media titan will soon pass the baton at 21st Century Fox to his 42-year old son (with sibling Lachlan to take charge of the far smaller News Corporation subsidiary), it's a fair question: will James Murdoch share his father's famous instincts?   One early gambit: Murdoch The Younger apparently views TV as the "real killer app" in the digital world.  Courtesy The New York Times.

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FINANCIAL JOURNOS WANT EXPERTS, NOT PR "SPOKESPERSONS"

The landscape is brightening for companies looking to get heard in financial media - with a major caveat: don't expect your PR people to be credible as interview subjects.  That's the major takeaway from a survey of financial journalists commissioned by Gorkana Group and conducted by communications professors from Chicago's DePaul University.

CEO's, whose credibility tanked in the wake of the 2008 financial debacle, scored a credibility rating of 61 percent, up 10 percent since 2012.  Technical and subject matter experts came in at 58 percent.  But PR spokespersons remain stuck in the cellar, with a mere 13 percent credibility rating - trailing the CEO's by a nearly 5-1 margin, and providing more proof that reporters want to interview news makers, not people they see as gatekeepers.  Courtesy The Bulldog Reporter.

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INTERNAL REPORT SLAMS VATICAN MEDIA OPERATIONS

Satellite trucks and television riser seen near The Vatican.  Courtesy The Catholic Telegraph.

Pope Francis continues to break eggs to make omelets at the Vatican, and the latest yolk is on the Catholic Church's media operation.  

A top papal adviser asked Lord Christopher Patten, the former BBC chairman best known to Americans as the last British governor of Hong Kong before its handover to China in 1997, to study changes to the Vatican's sprawling media holdings.   The committee Lord Patten assembled has now responded with a scathing critique of the Vatican’s current media structures, saying they were unfit for the digital age.  Courtesy The Catholic Herald.

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