Newspaper Vital Signs (and Other PR Blog Jots)
More on the "Death" of the Newspaper
/Message
Stowe Boyd posts an excellent roundup of the recent “Death of the Newspaper” meme that has been making the rounds on PR blogs. He links to posts from Doc Searls, Dave Winer and Tim O'Reilly discussing the possibility that print journalism is dying out, and what can be done—if anything. I disagree with Stowe’s assertion that it’s too late to “save” print media, but it’s definitely a worthy read for those looking to get arguments from all sides on the subject. “Since we are all trying to be more green, we should be happy that mazillions of trees won't be cut down and turned into newsprint, that cars will not be wending their way through a hundred million suburban cul-de-sacs so that papers can be thrown out of the window into our driveways. Journalists will, yes, have to get other jobs, or figure out how to make it online.”
Obama's Impressive Online Numbers all a Game?
Buzz Machine
In the Democratic race for the presidential nomination thus far, no one will disagree that Barak Obama has been leading the way when it comes to the online popularity contest. His numbers on YouTube and MySpace have far outpaced those of his competition, leading some to believe that they were adjusted by hackers looking to give Obama an edge. As Jeff Jarvis reports today, it appears that assumption may have been accurate. Jarvis links to a Tech President article that shows that the online numbers for Obama are probably not as they seem. It’s an interesting example of how social media can skew not only PR, but politics. “No one is saying that Obama’s staff is doing this. But it could hurt him nonetheless. That anti-Hillary commercial, coming from a hidden source, smelled of a dirty trick. Somebody’s engineering lies about at least his YouTube viewership. People will wonder how much of his buzz is elusive, the effort to goose it even desperate.”
Mike’s Points
In a post that he worries will elicit a “well duh” reaction, Mike Driehorst offers an excellent basic rundown on the differences between the various mediums of message delivery. While it may be basic knowledge for many, I think it’s an excellent reminder that while the lines are somewhat blurred lately, PR remains its own medium, with differences between others such as advertising and marketing. He points out that in media relations, objectivity is king. Other forms of communication are all written from a biased standpoint, PR is about influencing objective parties to your side of things. “The above are generalities, but you get my point. While we can communicate the same message in each of the above media, the message is conveyed differently — depending on the audience and the expectation with each delivery vehicle.”
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