QWERTY

What about better articles?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:00:00 +0000

In all the discussion about the Detroit papers suspending home delivery except for the three most profitable days of the week (Thursday, Friday, Sunday) there seems to be little discussion about the c-word -- content.

This quote from Jim Schaefer of the Free Press is typical. (Click for full article.)

This is something that would be hard to reverse. This is not like a magazine or neighborhood news sections, those tricks we have tried for years and then reversed them. This is viewed as something you live or die with.

As I've long contended, this erosion has only been sped up by the Internet. At the core of the problem is a product people don't want to read. If perhaps they thought about something compelling to readers that they could only get in the print edition then perhaps they could resume home delivery the other five days of the week.

This is not new. I recall conversations 15 years ago with the circulation department of a magazine I worked at. We spent an hour reviewing premiums that readers would receive if they subscribed. I wondered aloud if we shouldn't just worry about writing better articles to see if that would attract more readers. I was told it was more complicated than that. Perhaps so.

Anyone care?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 14:00:00 +0000

I have never understood the logic behind a byline strike. Never have, never will. Do people really care?

Apparently AP is in the midst of one now. (Click here.)

I defy anyone to find me anyone who cares or even knows about this.

Cheap gas

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 01:34:00 +0000

Gas at $1.75/gallon. I wish it was this way this past summer when we spent three weeks on the road suffering through $4/gallon gas. My emotional side is glad gas is cheaper. My intellectual side fears it means our country will revert to its usual lazy mode and not work hard enough to find alternative sources of energy.

Lake George, NY, Thanksgiving

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:43:00 +0000

Why adult supervision is still needed

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:35:00 +0000

Here's a great lesson in why "citizen journalism" isn't all it's cracked up to be.

From Silicon Alley Insider:

"Citizen journalism" apparently just failed its first significant test. A CNN iReport poster reported this morning that Steve Jobs had been rushed to the ER after a severe heart attack. Fortunately, it appears the story was false. We contacted an Apple spokeswoman, who categorically denies this.

Here's a link to the full post. (Click here.)

In one sense I admire CNN for its iReport effort. But this for sure demonstrates the value "old media" still holds. Another good example -- many outlets have taken it upon themselved to verifty claims made by the candidates. Here's a good example from CNN. (Click here.)

Olin Stephens (1908-2008)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 10:53:00 +0000

When I heard about Olin Stephens' death yesterday I remembered all that he had done for sailing and, most important, how he took a love for the sport and not only made it a career but changed the world of yachting forever.

I met Olin many times over the years but had the chance to sit with him at a luncheon about 12 years ago in Newport. At that time the marine industry was going through a transformation -- sailboats no longer ruled. Powerboats had long outsold sailboats but in the 80s and 90s the powerboat portion of the industry was becoming even more dominant. Thus, I was expecting a lecture from Olin because the magazine I was running then was covering more power than sail. It was a lecture I was used to from men of his era, men who reminded me of the past. Surprisingly, Olin understood and was supportive of the changes. At the end of the conversation, he said "The world changes."

It does and I am thrilled to know that I had the chance to meet a man who was responsible for so much of that change.

A few good articles on his life and career:

New York Yacht Club. (Click here.)

Sail-World.com (Click here.)

Rex Grossman

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:02:00 +0000

Chicago Bears training camp 2008
Originally uploaded by charlesbarthold

Why this? Because I can, I guess. I managed to upgrade to a Nikon SLR in July which managed to annoy my kids to no end since all I did was take pictures of them on vacation. But they did find it cool that I could take action shots of the Bears when we visited their summer training camp a few weeks ago.

Here we have Rex Grossman which is kind of cool. Except a few days ago Kyle Orton was named the starter. So much for my career in sports journalism.

The ways of old media

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 19:00:00 +0000

A quote by Gary Zenkel, president of NBC Olympics, is a great summary of the networks' view of the new media world and how off base they can be at times.

On Friday morning NBC decided not to telecast the Olympic Opening Ceremonies live. That led to a bunch of online carping. I managed to do a bit of whining myself on Twitter (click here) which led to a mention on Brian Stelter's blog on the New York Times. (Click here.)

In short, many people wondered why there wasn't live coverage of the Opening Ceremonies. Zenkel, defending the decision to show the ceremonies 12 hours after they happened said this:

“We have a billion dollars worth of revenue at stake here, so that means we’re not public television, for better or worse.”

Aside from coming across as a bit snippy, it also shows how NBC can't recognize an opportunity when it presents itself. Here we have demand and networks restricting supply. So instead of figuring out a way to broadcast the ceremonies live online or on TV, either in its entirety or in snippets, they pursue a policy that encourages avid fans to search elsewhere. And because there is this thing called the Internet, they find it elsewhere. (Click here for a great article by Brian Stelter on how it was done.)

Seems NBC would have been smarter to do a limited broadcast (sponsored, of course) in the morning which which have given all us a flavor of what to expect 12 hours later and allowed us, by word of mouth, to promote what ended up being a spectacular event.

The long tail in action

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 19:00:00 +0000

I recently finished reaching Chris Anderson's book, The Long Tail, which has caused me to look at some things a little differently.

The most recent examples were radio channels on XM Radio. Last week I stumbled across Channel 51, all Coldplay all the time, at least through August 15. (I also discovered Channel 18, Kenny Chesney all the time.)

My nephew wondered aloud how such channels could possibly make money. Fortunately, I had the answer and even looked smart. Because there's no real incremental cost of changing a channel's format, the Coldplay and Kenny Chesney ideas are brilliant ones. I was particularly taken by the Coldplay channel which coincides with their tour and is a great way to increase exposure for the band as well as XM.

Where am I?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 19:00:00 +0000

Here's a story about the limitations of efficiencies. During the recent family vacation I tried to find a hotel near the highway. Holiday Inn Express seemed like a reasonable choice. I called their central booking number and booked a room based on the information they gave me -- the hotel was near the highway.

Turns out the hotel was near the highway, just not the one we were traveling on that evening. We finally found the hotel around 1230 am and discovered there were two highways with the same number, hence the confusion.

Lesson learned -- never deal with central booking and always try to book through the local hotel.

Customer loyalty

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:00:00 +0000

During a recent family trip we stopped by the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. The day we were there, preparations were being made for the induction of five new members the next day. Two, Art Monk and Darrell Green, played for the Redskins. During our day-long visit I noticed the huge number of Redskin fans. I wondered aloud if this was usual -- such a strong outpouring of fan support for one or two players. Turns out it wasn't. (Click here for article by Michael Wilbon of the Washington Post on the induction ceremony and large number of Redskin fans.)

I wonder how many sports teams or companies can claim to have this much loyalty. There had to be several thousand Redskin fans floating around Canton the day I was there. All either drove the 350 miles or flew to Cleveland. And in this day of $4 per gallon gas that's saying a lot.

This came a week after visiting the Chicago Bears training camp in Bourbonnais, Ill., on the campus of Olivet Nazarene University where we witnessed something similar. Admission was free, so was parking. We had great seats right near the practice field. We got to roam around during the practice and afterwards many of the players came over to the sidelines and offered up autographs. (That's Devin Hester in the photo at left.) My kids were already Bears fans before we went down to camp but the rich experience made them even stronger ones.

Of course they forced you to walk through the gift shop to get to the field but you didn't have to buy anything (we resisted).

In both instances I marveled at how two pro teams had managed to keep their fans so happy.

History of rock 'n roll, sort of

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:00:00 +0000

This is a bit off topic but I feel compelled to give a mention of a new book: Clark Weber's Rock and Roll Radio: The Fun Years, 1955-1975. (Click here for link to the book.)

I mention this not just because I was cited in the preface (although that was certainly nice) but also because Clark is my father in law. Every time I visit him I learn something new about the early years of rock and roll as well as Chicago radio. During my annual visits I also enjoy rummaging around the basement looking at photos of him with countless famous acts including the Monkees, Beatles and Sonny and Cher.

(My children's favorite story is about the detective from Gary, Indiana who came to Chicago one day with his boys in tow and asked Clark, then a DJ, to hear his boys sing. Clark wasn't too impressed but apparently the rest of the world saw things differently and the Jackson Five did just fine without my father in law's endorsement.)

It's also fascinating to talk to Clark about the changing landscape of radio. You would expect someone of his age to rue all the changes of late. Not so. Clark is endlessly fascinated by the world of Ipods, Internet and a world where media companies no longer control the pipeline. (I just handed Clark a copy of Chris Anderson's book, The Long Tail, which he is devouring.) He's even entered the world of blogs. (If you have any complaints about the blog, blame me. I talked him into it.)

If you get a chance, read the book. I think you will enjoy it.

Tracking Twitter and FriendFeed

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 19:00:00 +0000

For the past few months I have been trying to find a Twitter/FriendFeed client that allows me to monitor both feeds, send updates and eliminate duplicates. AlertThingy is my latest attempt and so far so good.

It's still a bit erratic but not sure if that's Twitter (a distinct possibility) or the client. It's also not very rich in features (or help files) but since it serves its primary purpose I am reasonably happy.

Getting others to do the work

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:00:00 +0000

Steve Hamm, a senior writer for BusinessWeek, is writing a book and he wants your help. Much has been written about collaboration so it's nice to see it in action.

The book, The Race for Perfect, is about the quest to design the perfect portable computer. Steve has put Chapters 2 and 10 online for others to help with.

Here's Steve's overview of the book:

My book, The Race for Perfect: Inside the Quest to Design the Ultimate Portable Computer, is in part a popular history of portable computing. (The other element is a blow-by-blow chronicle of designers, engineers, and marketers at Lenovo conceiving and designing the ThinkPad X300 and bringing it to market.) The saga begins with Alan Kay's original concept of portable computing, in the fall of 1968, and continues through the luggables, the laptops, the handhelds, the smartphones, and the latest concepts for mobile computing devices in mid-2008, when the book will be published by McGraw-Hill. I interviewed dozens of portable computing pioneers when I was researching the book, and I packed many of their stories into its pages. But there were many people who played roles in this history that I didn't speak to and many threads of the story that I didn't have time to explore. With this wiki I aim to do two things. First, I'm offering up two of the key chapters of the book for people to read. Hopefully, you'll find them entertaining or instructive, or both. Second, I want to invite others to submit their own recollections and observations. Hopefully, if others participate, this can become a living word organism. So, please, if you want to comment, start a thread. If you want to submit pieces of history (or photos) please send me an e-mail (to stevehamm31@hotmail.com) and I'll post your contributions. Please tell me who you are, and how you know what you know, and make sure I get a working e-mail address.

(Click here to access the chapters. You will need to request permission to edit.)

Who's watching the watchdogs?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:00:00 +0000

Recently, at work, a group of us had an interesting discussion about the Internet, the demise of newspapers and the future of democracy.

Sounds like a lot but the discussion focused on the future of newspapers. If they are to die, and we all agreed they are dying quickly, who will be the watchdogs?

One group argued that newspapers protect us against corruption, evil, etc. The other group (myself included) argued that it didn't matter. The world has changed, we argued, and it's easier for average citizens to broadcast and uncover corruption.

In the end we agreed to disagree. Afterwards I came across a column by Jon Fine of BusinessWeek. (Click here for full column.)

The column is mostly about the Newseum in Washington, D.C. However, Jon makes a good point, relevant to my work discussion:

Its placement on such an august stretch of D.C. real estate implicitly puts the news biz in league with the powers it's supposed to remain skeptical of, though anyone who has suffered through government-journalist group gropes such as the White House Correspondents' Dinner knows how uncomfortably close those teams are in real life.

Good point. Seems that the institutions we hold up to be the watchdogs aren't always as pure as we'd like them to be. It's always struck me that the most prominent journalists we supposedly look up to are also part of the group we're trying to keep an eye on.

Chicago Mac -- 100th running

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:00:00 +0000

I can't let today go by without acknowledging tomorrow's start of the 100th running of the Chicago Mac. A lot has been written about this but suffice to say it is truly unique. Unlike many other distance races this is one people do not miss. The entire sailing season in the Midwest revolves around this 333-mile race and for good reason.

There some great stuff out there on the race but I suggest the videos recounting past races. Some rich history there. (Click here.)

Caution: Lawyers involved

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 19:00:00 +0000

Recently I received, as a birthday present, a nice t shirt which included the lat/lon of the town I live in. It's a nice gift with a nautical theme that I like a lot.

The best part was the "disclaimer" that was stuck on the shirt, obviously a pointed poke at companies run by lawyers who insist on putting warnings, no matter how absurd, on anything they sell.

Why newspapers are where they are today

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 19:00:00 +0000

Bob Lefsetz, a former music industry executive who rants on about his former industry and its inability to accept change, recently commented on the newspaper industry. (Click here for full post. Thanks to Mark Potts for the link.)

Bob is a fan of Sam Zell and Lee Abrams and many of his points have been repeated elsewhere. But the great line of his post in response to newspaper executives tired of the new regime:

If those running the newspapers were so damn smart, they wouldn’t be in this predicament.

Other newspapers are no longer the competition

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:00:00 +0000

Good post by Jeff Jarvis on the recent layoffs at the Tampa Tribune. (Click here for full post.)

Two interesting comments:

Janet Coats, editor, pointed out that the importance of the paper's Web site has changed. “People need to stop looking at TBO.com [the newspaper's affiliated web site] as an add on to The Tampa Tribune. The truth is that The Tampa Tribune is an add on to TBO.”
Coats also urged her staffers to stop copying the competition. "She told the staff to get over the idea that they should operate and judge themselves by doing the same stories as The St. Petersburg Times. Can’t afford that anymore."

Office jargon -- words not to use

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 19:00:00 +0000

A great article from the BBC on over-used phrases found in today's offices. (Click here for full article.)

A few gems:

1. Going forward

2. Incentivise

3. Low-hanging fruit

It gets better.

When readers don't care

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 19:00:00 +0000

Jeff Jarvis recently had an interesting post about newspapers getting rid of sections and finding out readers don't care. (Click here for Jeff's post. Click here for the original post by Amy Webb.)

Both Jeff and Amy make great points:

Newspapers should think about cutting more sections or figuring out what sections really resonate with readers.
Newspapers need to think like businesses. Don't create products that people don't want just because management thinks they need it. (The eat your vegetables mentality.)
No more commodity news. Only news readers can't get anywhere else.

One of the greatest lesson I learned when I was in newspapers was the day we put in the wrong crossword puzzle. The phone never stopped ringing. A close second was the day we cut a recipe in half and had countless people call upset that the recipe didn't work. I pointed out to the editor that I didn't notice anyone calling because we left out an international story or didn't have the Vancouver Canucks score.

Watch people like Sam Zell. They understand this.

A dollar on the floor in FriendFeed's headquarters

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:21:00 +0000

A dollar on the floor in FriendFeed's headquarters
Originally uploaded by Robert Scoble

This is funny. Here's how one company makes people pay attention to a cord running across the floor. Not sure how many people not only notice this but then try to pick it up.

The new way to do PR

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:00:00 +0000

Jason Kintzler makes some good points on Socialmediatoday.com about how PR firms (and people) should work in the world of social media. (Click here for full article.) One paragraph stands out:

As more media members begin to use and experience social media
communication tools like Twitter and FriendFeed, the disconnect between media
and PR pros will weaken. Journalists interested in receiving updates from a
credible PR agency will choose to 'follow' them, and PR pros will be forced to
(once again) engage with media, not just push content at them.

Jason is reacting to a New York Times article that talked about how PR professionals are learning to use key words in their pitches (green, sex, cancer, etc.) to get the attention of journalists. Jason's response is right. Shoving content at people is the wrong way to go by a long shot.

Being genuine about monitoring social media

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 19:00:00 +0000

BusinessWeek recently ran an interesting piece on how multinationals are hiring others to monitor social media to see what people are saying about their company. (Click here for full article.)

The article, by Dexter Roberts, focuses on Daqi.com. Specifically, Daqi.com helps multinationals monitor their reputation online in China. The article has a few good examples and is a great example of how companies recognize the impact of social media.

But two things stood out:

The article points out a case of a Toyota customer upset that his car wasn't delivered and venting about it on a blog. The customer was finally taken care of but the Toyota's PR agency then refused to comment on the complaint or provide details.
Some of these agencies hire people to post positive things about clients on various blogs.

Seems to me if you're going to play in these arena you should be open about it. In the first instance, a golden opportunity was missed. It was a chance to talk about a problem and how it was solved. That, in turn, builds trust. In this case, Toyota dealt with this the old fashioned way -- doing what it could to make the customer happy and then saying nothing about it for fear, I presume, it would make the company look bad.

In the second instance there's a pretty good chance such actions will be found out pretty quickly. And then the world knows you are not being genuine. And then you have a real problem.

Conclusion -- if you're going to go this route you probably better off going the whole way.

The future of newspapers

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:00:00 +0000

Jon Fine, columnist for BusinessWeek, has a great post on how newspaper executives feel about the current state of affairs. (Click here for full article.)