Pew Research annual survey on media

The news about news is what you thought it was...here is a partial summary of findings from the Pew Research Center's 2013 survey on the state of the mainstream media, ironically (my opinion) reported by Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/18/pew-journalism-study-cutbacks_n_2898422.html

Sandy Hook massacre - media mistakes

An unimaginable horror struck families in Newtown, Connecticut, this week when 20-year old Adam Lanza went on a mass shooting spree at the elementary school where his mother, Nancy, worked. As the information about the events became available during the aftermath, members of the media published information they obtained from law enforcement officials, who just plain got it wrong. For hours, the news reported that Lanza's older brother, Ryan, was the killer. News of Ryan's alleged role in the massacre spread virally across the nation, and the world. There were no efforts, apparently, to independently verify the identity of the shooter. I was troubled to learn of this mistake, which took hours to correct in the unfolding news cycle, because I am a Public Relations professional who has been taught to rely on the veracity of the information practitioners like me receive from the investigating law enforcement agencies in such incidents. Later, we learned that the shooter was actually carrying his older brother's ID, so it does seem an honest mistake. But, meanwhile, the communication trail has wreaked havoc, and older brother Ryan's face has been posted all over the Internet, the permanent and intractable record of his presumed 'guilt.' The mistake was corrected, and the story continued to wend it's course as the country reeled with unspeakable sadness, learning further that 20 children, many of them 6 and 7 year olds, had been killed at point blank range by Adam Lanza. Another mistake that the media made, in my opinion, was interviewing the surviving classmates of the murdered children. Several news organizations apparently leapt to gather footage from children at Sandy Hook Elementary School who had been ushered out of the school building to safety by teachers and other school personnel when the gunshots were heard. Still reeling from the fear of perhaps being shot themselves, learning that some of their classmates had died in the shootings only moments or hours before, several of the children who appeared on camera for interviews were 6 or 7 years old, and were asked to recount the action they took, and their personal emotions about the terrifying incident. I understand why the reporters on the scene, and their ultimate producers back in the studio, decided to capture these moments from the youngest among us. And yet,as I watched this news coverage, I felt a gut wrenching pain for the children followed by anger that the news media (and presumably their parents who gave permission) had felt it more important to have these vulnerable, innocents--practically babies, really--tell their stories on national television rather than comfort and shield them during such a time. The third mistake, which I hope will be corrected as the reporting continues in ensuing days, is the inference that some are making that because the shooter was identified as being autistic, or perhaps on the autism scale, that this somehow is connected to the violence he enacted at his mother's workplace. This kind of misinformation can sway public opinion about an already misunderstood condition that impacts hundreds of thousands of families in our country and elsewhere, and can reinforce the stigmas of 'mental health labels' in a way that sets us back decades. 'Suffering from autism' does not, of course, equate to violent behavior in any way. In fact, the use of the term 'suffering,' as many news outlets are reporting, implies some malady. Many people live with a condition that makes them experience the world differently...some suffer, many do not, and still more merely understand that they view and experience the world differently than some defined 'norm,' and therefore they are 'different.' The diagnosis of autism does not automatically imply that a person is 'sick,'mentally or otherwise.

Social Media provides for bullied bus monitor

Latest reports this morning indicate that the outpouring of support for the bullied bus monitor widow has exceeded $500,000! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/21/social-media-bus-monitor_n_1616805.html?ir=Education&ref=topbar"> More on this developing story: http://storify.com/bendoernberg/karen-klein-s-internet-army

Anderson Cooper's giggle fit is a classic!

Even though the puns themselves were really annoying, I enjoyed Anderson Cooper's apparent delight in this bit...here is the 4-minute version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPq2fsSk2Vw

I especially like the part where he says "this has never happened to me before!"

The Help a box office hit, marketed to women

Earlier this summer, I "read" the audiobook of Kathryn Sockett's bestselling book, The Help, which opened in its feature film form starring Emma Stone last week. Having grown up in the 1960s, about a five hour drive from where Sockett's story takes place, I was captivated with the characters, and with the author's uncanny ability to capture the voices of the black maids whose lives were in marked contrast to those of their white employers. Like many who grew up in the South, their stories and personalities seemed familiar to me, and conjured up memories from childhood about the intersections of very different lives at the height of the civil rights movement in the U.S.

I haven't had time to see the movie yet--I hear it is almost three hours long (!)--but I was curious tonight to see what its popularity has been, what the critics and viewers are saying about it, and maybe find out how long it will be showing at local theaters since I'm pretty busy and booked solid for the next couple of weeks with work, family vacation, and building the new class...

Anyway, I discovered that The Help opened to $5 million in box office receipts its first day, according to NPR's All Things Considered report today.

Now on its sixth day at the theaters, the feature film is reported as having earned a total of $39,809,842 by Box Office Mojo.

The few reviews I scanned indicate a favorable reception: it's a film about relationships, targeted at female moviegoers.

From a marketing perspective, there was early outreach and a carefully orchestrated roll-out even before the film's wide release. Here's a good summary from Anthony Kaufman's "Speakeasy" column in the August 15 Wall Street Journal:

Disney’s distribution executive vice president David Hollis told Speakeasy that they moved the film’s release date to Wednesday because they had “a sense early on that we had something special, so we let the fans of the book and women’s date nights groups get to see it early, and get that same great grassroots thing going that the book had. And that’s exactly what happened.”

The film performed well in upscale venues, according to Hollis, but especially strong in urban markets and Southern states, with Memphis ranking the top-earning city, followed by Jackson, Miss., Chicago, Atlanta and Dallas. “The Help” will likely add an additional 150-200 theaters next weekend.

According to Hollis, there was a lot of outreach done to get African American and faith-based communities on board, with a word of mouth screening campaign initiated early on. “It lends itself to what made the book work so well,” said Hollis. “Influencers and leaders can go back to their constituencies, and then those small groups of people are exposed, and if it’s a good movie, it’s something they’re going to be recommending.”

Welcome, new students! Well, new to me, anyway...

Starting in September, I will welcome two new Marketing classes of Bachelor of Arts in Management students at the University of Redlands. Well, they've been students for awhile, working alongside their classmates in their respective cohorts, but it will be my first time to meet them. I am looking forward to it: great text, lots of current issues to explore, and real-time applications and exercises to work on together. I will post from time to time, as ideas surface or conversations provoke further exploration!

Hiatus to work on master's degree!

Not teaching for awhile, so I can concentrate on completing my master's degree. Taking a hiatus from this blog.

Be back in 2011!

Morning Edition on NPR salutes 41 years of "60 Minutes"

Outbursts 2

Add to this week's list:
Kanye West cutting off Taylor Swift during her acceptance of the "best video" award at MTV's VMA telecast...he jumped in front of her, he grabbed her mic, and said that "beyonce had the best video ever"...even Beyonce, with the camera trained on her face, was shocked.

Rude. Uncalled for.

Outbursts

This week's Boneheaded Outbursts awards go to:

Senator Joe Wilson (Yells "you lie!" to the President during Wednesday night's health care speech); even McCain thought it was disrespectful Postscript: Wilson lines his reelection pockets and signs autographs following apology to Obama

Serena Williams (Profanity penalty earns defending U.S. Open Champion loss at match point)

Bob McDonnell (Virginia gubernatorial candidate drops F-bomb during candidate interview on radio)

Diane Sawyer and Katie Couric hold two of three flagship network newscast slots

For the first time, two of the three solo anchors on the prestigious network evening newscasts will be women, according to a recent National Public Radio report about Diane Sawyer's ascent to the World News evening anchor slot for ABC.

Charlie Gibson is leaving the post he took three years ago, after a long career in broadcast journalism including ABC's morning news show slot co-hosting Good Morning America with Joan Lunden. Gibson retires at 66. Sawyer starts her job in January 2010 at the age of 63.

When I saw the "Frost/Nixon" movie recently, I was tickled to learn that the blonde helping prepare Nixon for his interviews with talk show host David Frost was Diane Sawyer. I hadn't paid much attention in 1972 when Watergate actually happened, being only 12 at the time.

In any event, hats off to Ms. Sawyer at this auspicious achievement in her career, having risen through the ranks of the male-dominated broadcast news world long before it became fashionable for women to be there.

Walter Cronkite dies at 92

from EW.com...

CBS newsman Walter Cronkite, legendarily known as "The Most Trusted Man in America," passed away today at his home in New York at the age of 92. He had reportedly been suffering from cerebrovascular disease.

With the face of a small-town druggist, an easily-parodied delivery that was both herky-jerky and orotund (“As-tronaut Juhn Glenn...”), and a mien of utter seriousness, Walter Cronkite was the acknowledged king of the golden era of network news. Serving as the managing editor of the CBS Evening News between 1962 and 1981, Cronkite projected a professional authority and personal integrity that invested him with a credibility no contemporary journalist, operating in a more skeptical era, possesses. When Cronkite ended a broadcast with his signature “And that’s the way it is,” neither he nor his audience doubted that it was true.

Born in 1916 in St. Joseph, Missouri, Cronkite entered journalism as an undergraduate. But it was during World War II, as a reporter for UPI, that Cronkite first distinguished himself. He sent classic dispatches from battlefields in North Africa, Normandy, and from the belly of a B-17 bomber over Germany, and parachuted with airborne troops into Holland. He joined CBS News in 1950 and soon distinguished himself with his coverage of the Korean War. “He had that special quality that television demands,” David Halberstam wrote in The Powers That Be, “that audiences sense, and that is somehow intangible -- he had weight, he projected a kind of authority.”

Social Media Today Blog has important message

This blog post frames the question:

Will Google WAVE Eliminate the Need for PR as Media Relations?


Check it out!