It was followed by a roundtable Q&A moderated by Jason Winocour, social and digital media practice leader at Hunter Public Relations.
Why Digital Video Fifty-nine percent of Americans get their news every day from online and a mix of broadcast, radio and print sources. In fact, it is predicted that “by 2015, the demand for online video is expected to grow by 81 percent.”
Eric Wright, senior VP of marketing and business development, DS Simon Productions, Inc., offered additional insight on why digital video matters to the media.
AOL Newsroom is now bigger than the New York Times.
Journalist are using online video on their website.
79 percent will use more online video in their messages.
Interestingly enough, over 50 percent of journalists say that video is vital to their jobs and that HD is the most important format.
For these reasons, among others, it is imperative that public relations professionals use video to engage and build relationships with stakeholders, the media, and the community. However, PR folks have lots of homework before integrating online video in their campaigns. (more…)
Near the 5-Inch Heels, Guerrillas on Four Wheels (NYTimes.com)
“EVERYONE was expecting New York Fashion Week to embrace mobile this fall. They just didn’t mean vehicles. Plastered with logos — and offering free food, cosmetics samples or mini-makeovers — cars and trucks sponsored by brands have become almost as ubiquitous during the past week’s events as five-inch heels.”
1st Female Editor Denies Influence of Gender (Maynard Institute)
“Jill Abramson, who last week became the first female editor of the New York Times in its 160-year history, said Sunday, ‘The idea that women journalists bring a different taste in stories or sensibility isn’t true.’ The statement was challenged by women who have studied the topic of women in journalism.
Shoppers Via Twitter Spend More, Online Behavior Impacts Retail (MediaPost)
“Shoppers who land on retail sites through Facebook or Twitter are less likely to make purchases. Their conversion rates average 1.2% and 0.5%, respectively. Per average order, however, they spend more than those who come through Google.”
UPDATE: Facebook Suggests Subscribing To Profiles (All Facebook)
“Facebook is suggesting that you subscribe to people’s public status updates and customize how much of their feeds you receive. The site is rolling out a new subscribe button that will enable you to receive in your news feed publicly visible status updates from people who aren’t yet on your friend list.”
Are Big Media’s Partnerships With Seattle ‘Indies’ the Future of Hyperlocal? (StreetFight)
“In the furiously expanding, highly competitive and often conflicted hyperlocal space, some pieces appear to be coming together. Just possibly, highly digital Seattle may be the birthplace for what has long eluded hyperlocal: a sustainable business model.”
Interestingly, 69 percent of reporters said they use Twitter as a reporting/sourcing tool (this is a 21 percent increase from 2010) with 49 percent saying they have their own Twitter account. But only one percent indicated they’d like to be contacted via Twitter. The disconnect here is interesting to me and I have to wonder why, if they are using Twitter for research, they wouldn’t want to be contacted via the platform. Perhaps they want to listen (aka lurk) and not actually engage – despite the 37 percent who said they use social networking sites to participate in conversations (27 percent specified Twitter). Hmm… that’s a head-scratcher.
Other notable findings:
92 percent believe journalists’ reliance on social media is increasing.
78 percent say they use company websites as a tool in reporting.
75 percent indicated they use Facebook, with only 10 percent using MySpace. (No surprise there.)
48 percent say they use citizen-generated video; 68 percent say they use citizen-generated photos.
77 percent believe new media and communications tools/technologies are enhancing journalism; 14 percent think social media and citizen journalism will ultimately lead to the demise of the profession. (My guess is these will be the ones looking for a new job soon.)
Key takeaways for public relations / media relations professionals is that 53 percent of journalists surveyed indicated they prefer to be contacted via email, and 34 percent prefer phone.
Even as social media continues to change the media landscape, PR Daily surmised journalists still prefer more traditional methods of communication.
Jen McClure, president of the Society for New Communications Research, stated: “Social media tools and technologies are being used by journalists to monitor issues, stories and content even after a story has been published. The publication of the story is no longer the end result. Today, media organizations and journalists also must serve as curators of content, are looked to to drive conversations and expected to provide information to keep the conversation going even after the story has been published.”
Do you agree with these findings? Look forward to your thoughts and comments on the BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas blog.
“You need to find what inspires you.” This was just one of the many messages from ABC news anchor Diane Sawyer during a session in the Reel Journalism series at the Newseum (a BurrellesLuce client).
The Reel Journalism series looks at how journalism is portrayed in movies and includes discussions with journalists and others who have insight into the movie. TV personality Nick Clooney hosts the series, which is co-produced by American University.
Recently, the discussion lead to the First Amendment, and how we, as Americans, do not appreciate the rights we have been given. One audience member asked why journalists don’t advocate more on behalf of the First Amendment. Sawyer agreed there is a need for more work from journalists and there is a lack of advocacy. Although no one had a good answer, all agreed it is an issue.
The evening’s movie was “The China Syndrome” starring Jane Fonda as a fluff TV news reporter, who longed to do hard news stories. Sawyer empathized with the character and reminisced about her own time doing zoo stories and birthday parties. She commented on how she was originally hired to do the weather, which she knew nothing about and could barely see the map without her glasses. (She now wears contacts.) Sawyer said she had been lucky to not have to deal with the “old boys club” as she moved up the ranks in TV news. Considering she was the first female correspondent on “60 minutes,” most were surprised by this fact.
Clooney asked Sawyer if she had premonitions since she picked the film shortly before the earthquake in Japan that caused a nuclear power plant leak. She said she didn’t, however, she did note the movie came out 12 days before the Three Mile Island incident, which she covered for CBS news.
The lone PR person in the movie, played by James Hampton, is told by the head of the nuclear power plant to “do his job and control the reporters.” Of course, he then tries to cover-up the true story, but is trumped in the end. It made me sad (but not surprised) to see public relations put in a bad light. I also felt like the character wanted to do the right thing and tried to advise his boss.
The movie is from 1979, and like all movies, there are flawed characters. But, what would a real PR counselor be inspired to do? Would he or she follow the ethics of the profession and go against management? In the movie, the plant employee played by Jack Lemon is the hero we want both the journalist and the PR person to be. He stood by his principles and looked for a way to save others instead of himself. He was inspired.
So, I ask again, what inspires you? Please share your thoughts with the BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas readers.
Last week, in the midst of all the flooding here in southeast Missouri, I was fortunate enough to be able to get away to the desert for a few days and attend the PRSA Western District Conference. One of the sessions gave us an inside look into some of Las Vegas’ newsrooms through its panel: Emily Neilson, president/GM for 8 News NOW, Ken Ritter, staff writer for the Associated Press, and Bruce Spotleson, group publisher for Greenspun Media Group.
It wasn’t surprising to hear Spotleson state that journalists are multi-tasking these days, often reporting, blogging, producing video/audio, interacting on social media, and more. Ritter stated, in the AP newsroom, he’s also doing “news triage” – which results in his attention span being 30 seconds or 140 characters. One point he made, that every public relations person should heed, was, “If you receive a call from us, pay attention! This probably means the story is ready to go out on the wire and we need comment/confirmation – but it’s going with or without you!”
Neilson talked about online and mobile being the “wild wild west” of reporting and how “i-reporters” have iPhone video posted before a traditional journalist can even get to the scene. So, it’s increasingly important for journalists to not only report news, but engage the public and rely on them more and more.
Neilson made a point of saying they [8 News Now] are NOT a “TV station” anymore but rather they are a local news organization that is platform agnostic.
She explains, that The Media must report the way consumers want, which entails speed, speed, speed, and then get depth of story out. Giving up control and unbundling of news services is, in her opinion, the most critical issue facing journalism right now. The value of eyeballs is very different now than ever before – they’re trading analog dollars for digital dimes.
When asked what piece of advice she could give those of us in PR and media relations, she offered: “Do NOT write press releases for your client, instead write it for your neighbor – what would they want to know?”
I hadn’t quite heard it put that way before and think that’s great advice. Do you agree? What would you add? Please leave a comment below on BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas.
“You need to find what inspires you.” This was just one of the many messages from 
Last week, in the midst of all the flooding here in southeast Missouri, I was fortunate enough to be able to get away to the desert for a few days and attend the 
