If this story is in fact true, it has the potential to change the landscape of journalism.

http://mashable.com/2011/04/07/usa-today-pageview-bonus/

No longer will reporters simply want to report the facts.  An increased focus will be placed on stories that are controversial, sensational or gossip.  In today’s world more people are interested in Charlie Sheen and Britney Spears, not what’s happening in Japan or Libya.

With the scarcity of jobs in journalism, the incentive to come up with something juicy to generate page views will be the reporter’s primary goal. Not only will their compensation be tied to their success, it will also help them keep their job if they can prove they are sending eyeballs to their employer’s webpage.

It’s a slippery slope that could potentially endanger the integrity of journalism.

Well, Len was right.  I do find myself constantly thinking of stuff to post.  I think the immediacy of writing for a group of readers that are all within striking distance makes it appealing. Communicating with nameless, faceless business people spread across the country is one thing.  Knowing I can make a joke about how hard it is to get into Pizzeria Bianco is another. By the way, did you hear they’re opening for lunch?

So attending the Mayor’s State of the City address at the Sheraton today is definitely a local topic. Right after the national anthem, and before the chicken d’jour, came the Prayer. It would be reasonable to assume the content would be non-denominational, a la the “In God We Trust” that’s on the dollar bill in your pocket. Right?  Wrong. It closed in a way which certainly appealed to the majority but definitely excluded the minority.  Ironic, considering the Mayor personally falls into the latter group. I can’t even begin to fathom the outcry if the roles were reversed. But the point is, the names of the groups are irrelevant. Or should be.

Can someone please explain how this is ok?

Mark Burnett – Creator – Survivor

Simon Fuller – Creator – American Idol

Bertram van Munster – Creator – Amazing Race

CEO and CMO’s of Inc. 5000

Valley (Phoenix) PR Tribe

Here’s an idea for the next great reality show. Formatting (sic).

FADE IN:

Exterior – Corporate HQ – Day

The freshly graduated job APPLICANT waits nervously in the lobby. He mumbles to himself, looking down at his worn shoes.

The hiring MANAGER leads him back to her plush office. The desk is littered with RESUMES.

MANAGER:

(motioning for him to take a seat)

You know there is a 2% chance you will get this job, yes?

The applicant’s shoulders sag – defeated before he even got to utter a word.

MANAGER:

But if you agree to let me broadcast this interview, your chances go up to 20%.

She smiles, pointing up to the ceiling at the VIDEO CAMERA, red light blinking.

FADE TO BLACK

Any guesses on what the vast majority of 2011 job seekers would say?

Imagine the footage that would emerge from that room. It would be like Survivor meets Office Space meets The Apprentice meets America’s Funniest Videos meets Amazing Race meets American Idol meets Chatroulette meets Taxi Cab Confessions. (Am I the only one who misses that show?)

Imagine the pressure, sitting in that chair, knowing millions of people are glued to their screens, laughing their asses off at your first, next and last pathetic answer. It would be like your own personal Super Bowl — circa 1991 Buffalo Bills.

Real life job seekers would get a treasure trove of tips on what not to do in an interview. Hiring Managers would learn to listen more than talk. Ok, probably not.

Countless companies would scratch and claw to be included each season. They would find some great employees. Their new pr agency would secure millions of dollars in coverage for them — while working on a 10% commission like an “unpaid media” buyer.

This is an open source idea like Wikipedia and Mozilla.  I just wanted to share it with everyone and see where it goes. If any of the potential defendants named above try to profit illicitly from the idea, the media firestorm will cost them plenty. Yes, Bobby, contrary to antiquated belief, there is such a thing as bad pr. Not to mention, karma is a bitch.

What do you think? Have any ideas to make it better, just for kicks?

I find myself saying “seriously” quite often these days. Saturday Night Live’s Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler regularly lampooned the term so I don’t claim to have invented it.

But still, what word better conveys the sudden, staggering state of disbelief you feel when a client makes that last second request?  Or when a prospect thinks the creative for an ad campaign should cost $2,000? And the infamous intern who didn’t like sorting the highlighters? Not to mention the geyser of venom spraying from our elected officials.

Writing is how I process all which defies logic, reason, common sense or basic human empathy.  My goal is to evoke thought, discussion and change. To rattle the gilded cages of those who want nothing more than to keep people who think, look or love differently than them, out of their cage.

Everything in the world relates to marketing — and all the specialties, strategies, disciplines, tools and tactics we  fill our days with.  Sometimes you might think a post isn’t relevant to you. Look closer, it’s in there. The Mona Lisa is nice, but I’m more of a Jackson Pollock guy. There won’t be any guardrails like, “the reason this matters if you’re in PR is…”

• While maniacal about verbal grammar, in print I have no AP Style whatsoever. That’s one of the many reasons I surround myself with smart Cronkite alumni.

• Life is about perspective. I have been the client much longer than the client services provider.  I was another brick in the wall much longer than I’ve been the owner.

• People should always come before profit. Sam Alpert and I have walked that walk at DSPR for the last five years. I will challenge every boss in town to hop on the treadmill and sacrifice your $200 rounds of golf so you don’t have to lay someone off.

• I think the word boss is repugnant and, contrary to popular opinion, all millennials are not self-entitled slackers. I have dozens of case studies to support both views.

• 80% of my life, career and education has been spent outside Arizona. The Grand Canyon is beautiful. But if you profess that it’s the most beautiful place in the world and you’ve never been east of the Rockies or south of Rocky Point, I’m gonna call you on a major parochial violation.

• Humor is the greatest gift there is. When, not if, my words piss you off, remember that other readers at that moment are laughing — hopefully anyway.

• We all need to do a better job of sharing our oxygen, whether you think the climate is changing or not.  You can believe in whatever you want as long as you don’t believe you have the divine  right to extinguish mine.

• Life is too short to eat vanilla because you’re afraid what people might think if you like Phish Food.

• A positive attitude is nice but not when it’s delusional. As Arizona prepares to celebrate its 100th birthday isn’t it time we stop acting like we’re in our terrible two’s? Last I checked, horses stopped galloping down Central Ave decades ago.

• People in Phoenix are mostly nice — except behind the wheel. Our highways are more toxic than the roads of Istanbul, Boston and Bangkok.

• Agencies like Ogilvy and Edelman would have offices in Phoenix if they saw us as a viable investment, in other words, a world-class city. That requires a sophisticated economy with a highly educated work force and socially progressive culture.  Who’s starting that creative brief?

At the end of the day, most of us marketing communications professionals just sell stuff, services and space.  It’s the teachers, public servants and ace reporters at TMZ who make the world a better place, not us.

So laugh more. Enjoy the ride. It’s the only one you get.

That’s my perspective. Seriously.

D

I was lucky enough to work with Glen a lot back when he covered real estate and when I did work for a variety of real estate firms. He always took my calls and returned my emails and he even told me straight out when he thought a story wasn’t newsworthy enough. Our thoughts are with his family this morning, and especially my friend and neighbor Cathy Creno.

Feel free to share any stories you have about working with Glen here in the comments.

People buy books differently than they used to. First, online retailers like Amazon came around and killed margins for brick and morter bookstores. Next, the rise of the eReader virtually eliminated the need to buy books at all (folks now buy digital downloads). But was there really anything Borders could have done? Are things any better at Barnes and Noble? B&N was trading at around $30 per share three years ago, and today despite a little bump on the Borders news it is trading at around $18 per share. The trend is bad for book retailers.

Sure, I’ll miss Borders and if Barnes and Noble goes away next I’ll miss it too. But I’ll survive and so will you. There was a time when I thought I couldn’t survive without Tower Records either. Now I can’t survive without Amazon Music and perhaps soon that will be replaced by Rhapsody or iTunes cloud if Apple ever gets around to it. The thing is, there has been a fundamental shift in how we read.

I purchased an eReader last year. I wasn’t sure how I would like it, because like a lot of you I said I liked the tactile feel of holding a book…I even opined I liked the smell of the paper. A few months with my Nook and I soon realized that was total B.S. What I like is reading — and now I like reading better on my Nook. Trust me, if you don’t already have an eReader you will and you’ll love reading on it. It’s better than reading an old fashioned book. I know you don’t believe me…but you will.

I don’t like reading the newspaper anymore either. My hands get ink all over them and there are too many ads. I much prefer reading my news on the computer, and I’ll probably move on to a tablet soon as well. I’m already beginning to get over the nostalgia of newsprint — and I’m an old journalist who bled ink. Guess what? Cars now have this cool new feature called an automatic transmission that makes driving way easier than a manual transmission. And I don’t need glasses anymore because I have contact lenses. Things change and usually they change for the better.

So Borders going bankrupt was inevitable as long as it continued to sell those old bound paper things. Reading is now digital, and anyone can make devices and sell a bunch of ones and zeros. I will miss hanging out at Borders, but I’ll find someplace else to hang out — with my Nook.

I recently made a career change from broadcast news. I had gone in straight out of college, eventually working as a producer at two different stations here in the Valley.  I am one of many who decided it was not necessarily right for me (right now) and thought, ‘Hey, PR will be an easy transition!’ (Note the use of the not-so-appropriate word, easy.)

So, I was wrong. The two professions are not as seamless as I had originally thought. My plan (if you will have me), is to share these differences and similarities here on Valley PR Blog.

One thing I can say (although it’s not as much as you may think) is that my experience as a producer has definitely helped me know what works and what doesn’t work when it comes to pitching.  I know that the old-fashioned phone call is NOT dead, I know that your subject line can make or break your pitch (sadly), and I know that in some ways the PR profession is, well, changing.  Reporters, editors, and producers are finding ways to cut out the middle man, and so are clients. But if I’ve learned anything so far, it’s that not everyone can do this job, it’s absolutely necessary, and that in a weird way- marketing professionals are running this show!

Just last week, someone told me how interesting it is that we “see the world from an entirely different view” whenever we change jobs.  Seems like a no-brainer, but if you think about it- it couldn’t be more dead on.

Stay tuned!

(Len will tell you I’m cheesy. To that I say, “Don’t underestimate the importance of the cheese.”)

The interactive panel will feature members of the KFYI, KTAR, NPR and Arizona NewsRadio Networks to talk about the changing landscape of radio and ways PR practitioners can be a resource on current topics/trends. Of course, we’ll delve into how they are making themselves relevant in the social media space too!

As always, there will be panel discussion, best practices and tip-sharing followed by plenty of time for questions as well as breakfast and the chance to network with your fellow practitioners throughout the morning.

PANELISTS:
* Jim Cross, reporter, KTAR News
* John Gilliland, reporter/anchor, Arizona NewsRadio Networks
* Melody Birkett, News Director, KFYI
* Kelly Madison, morning producer, KJZZ

WHEN: Thursday, February 17, 2011
7:30 – 9 a.m. Breakfast and Panel Discussion
WHERE: Arizona Biltmore, Aztec room (inside main entrance), 2400 E. Missouri Avenue, Phoenix
PARKING: Valet parking is free. Tip at your discretion.
COST: $15 for members who register by February 14 or $20 for members at the door; $20 for non-members who register by February 14 or $25 for non-members at the door
REGISTER: Click here to register!

I’ve blogged here before about the future of the news industry, and one certainty is that people don’t like to pay for things they can get for free. The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, among others, learned this the hard way. What makes Murdoch think we’re going to change our minds simply because it’s available on a tablet? Really. Does Murdoch understand that you can surf the Internet from a tablet and visit thousands of free news sites per day?

I believe the future of news lays in nonprofit models or micro-payments. I admit, for example, that I might be willing to pay .10 per article to read my favorite columnist. But damn if I’m going to give Rupert Murdoch any of my money.

“We believe The Daily will be the model for how stories are told and consumed in this digital age.” — Rupert Murdoch.

Good luck with that.