Media Relations

Laugh At The News: Funny Headlines

Correct Me If I'm Wrong is a book full of funny blooper headlines collected by the Columbia Journalism Review.

 FYI...you won't find the book on Amazon.  Be sure to go the the Newseum Store .  I get no commission for this plug :)

Some great examples:

Social Media Vs. Corporate Web Sites - What Reporters View As Credible

Is social media trumping corporate Websites when journalists write their stories?  Thankfully, not yet. Not even close.   But recent responses from 371 reporters indicate 56% regard social media as important or somewhat important in helping them write the news.

"Almost nine out of ten journalists admitted using Blogs for their online research (89%).  Only corporate Websites (96%) are used more."

George Washington University and Cision conducted this 2009 survey of reporters.  Further findings:

Journalists appear quite concerned about social media accuracy. "Lack of fact-checking, verification or reporting standards is the number one reason (49%) for journalists' perceptions on the reliability of news and information from social media sources."

Funny Headlines. When The News Is Depressing, Read On...

Correct Me If I'm Wrong is a book full of funny blooper headlines collected by the Columbia Journalism Review.

 FYI...you won't find the book on Amazon.  Be sure to go the the Newseum Store .  I get no commission for this plug :)

Some great examples:

 

 

 

Meet America's New Non-profit Investigative Journalism Network

PR professionals...gird up your loins.  Old school investigative journalism may be near death from shrinking newsrooms.  Yet, as I write, the fresh shoots of a second birth are jutting from the soil.  From what I've been reading, a number of new non-profit news producing organizations have been created in the last few years, hiring "top talent" reporters who've been laid off.  Muckraking journalism is their focus.

Leaders from 20 of these new entities held a meeting in New York last year.  All 20 inked a document that declared participants members of the first ever "Investigative News Network of nonprofit news publishers throughout the United States of America."  

Calling this a "tectonic shift," Charles Lewis comments in the Columbia Journalism Review, that an "ecosystem is emerging in which an increasing percentage of the most ambitious reporting projects will emanate from the public realm, not from private commercial outlets."  

This leaves us with a lot to think about, doesn't it?

• Reporters may find new work. 
• PR professionals may tremble.
• The little guy could have a new and powerful advocate. 

Let me wish upon a star:  May the stories this new network produces be balanced, accurate and funded by those with integrity.  If that can happen, we all win.  

If Everyone's A Celebrity, Who Is The Audience? Do All Social Media Dreams Come True?

Disclaimer:  Don't get me wrong.  Social media is amazing. I love it and respect those who've harnessed its power. 

When you meet a high-level blogger, Tweeter, FBer, etc., can you see the stars in their eyes?  They've tasted the drug of celebrity.  Addiction levels are off the charts.  Visions of speeches at conferences, their books sold at the back as the audience exits. Webinars, Amazon orders & profits rolling in.  Attorney level consulting fees and the joy of the freebies.  It's a heady rush.

When Seth Godin spoke in Salt Lake several years ago, an audience member cried out, "we want to be like you!"  For some reason...that made me sad.  It seemed to bother him a bit, too. 

The slice and dice of once powerful media into cell sized morsels has brought power to the people.  May we use it wisely.

Can this be sustained?  Some questions I'd like you to ponder with me.

1. If we can all get our 15 minutes of fame, who will be our audience?
2. If we each publish our own newspaper, blog, have our own TV & radio (podcast, YouTube) outlets, how many followers can we attract before the excitement levels drop?  How much information can one human consume in a day, let alone generate? 
3. And now that we have all written and published a book (or plan to), who will read it?  What profit, if any, will we see as our copy joins the thousands of advice books outdated within mere months?

Online activity resembles a blur of swarming bees, all buzzing around each other, all frantically trying to give each other attention....and asking the same in return.  Pedestrians, drivers, people on dates, kids at the dinner table...eyes locked on mini-screens as their latest Google alert, Alexa rank, and online analytics confirm their new star status.

So it has come to this.  A country that strives to be so respectful of individual rights is now packed with citizen celebs.  In the anxious grab for audience...any audience...whatever audience is out there, to what lengths will people go?  Balloon boys?  Crashing presidential dinners?

Humor - Funny Headlines. Laugh Into 2010

And once again, real headlines collected by the Columbia Journalism Review in a new book called Correct Me If I'm Wrong.  Recommended reading for the holidays, and for psychological survival in January 2010!

  

Utahstories.com - Meet Utah's New Media

What do you do when you want to be a journalist, yet the world of journalism is in chaos?  Like many former or laid off reporters, you can always shoot for the stars and start your own news operation.  With some sweat equity, good journalism ethics and an eye for the hyper-local news no one covers anymore, you just might get a good reputation.  You just might one day make enough money to live on.

Here's one story, right here in Utah.

Meet Richard Markosian, creator of Utahstories.com.  "Read all about it" here.

Funny Headlines From The Columbia Journalism Review

With my thanks to the Columbia Journalism Review.  The magazine collects these great bloopers from subscribers and reporters.  By the way, if you really want to see inside the news business, understand the challenges and ethical dilemmas, subscribe.

Enjoy!

Funny Friday, Funny Headlines...

Correct Me If I'm Wrong is a book full of funny blooper headlines collected by the Columbia Journalism Review.

Just bought it, and wanted to share a few with you.  FYI...you won't find the book on Amazon.  Be sure to go the the Newseum Store .  I get no commission for this plug :)

Some great examples:

Study Reveals Content Is Still King

A great post today by Jeff Bulla. I'm very happy to see the research he highlights from the Online Publishers Association.  I stand by this: No matter what the vehicle...content is still king.  Those in the journalism and PR professions need to hang tight as we move through this change.  Just like the cash for clunkers campaign, the world is turning in the old clunkers that once delivered the content, for a shiny new vehicle that runs on Internet fuel.

Jeff has a great graphic to go with the post, also below, that made me LOL on a Monday.  And sometimes, that takes work :)   Enjoy his post here.