rob's class blog

Steve Jobs: The Infographic

noreply@blogger.com (Rob's Media Blog) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 23:30:00 +0000

Check out this amazing infographic of the life and times of Apple genius Steve Jobs, courtesy of Infographic World:

Created by: Infographic World

Mahler named next editor-in-chief of LBCC's Commuter

noreply@blogger.com (Rob's Media Blog) — Thu, 19 May 2011 05:37:00 +0000

Jill Mahler will be the next editor-in-chief of The Commuter, LBCC's student newspaper.

The next editor-in-chief of The Commuter will be Jill Mahler. Mahler, a staff writer for the LBCC student newspaper, was appointed Wednesday by the Student Publications Committee to lead the newspaper staff during the 2011-12 school year.

Mahler is from Sweet Home, where she served as editor of the high school paper. This year at The Commuter she has written a variety of stories, primarily news and feature stories.

Mahler will succeed Justin Bolger, who will conclude his term as editor-in-chief with publication of the last issue of the school year on June 1.

Mahler is working toward earning her transfer degree at LBCC before enrolling in the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon.

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Commuter seeks editors for next school year

noreply@blogger.com (Rob's Media Blog) — Mon, 02 May 2011 21:36:00 +0000

For journalism and other students looking to step up their involvement at LBCC’s student newspaper, now is the time to apply.

The Commuter is accepting applications for editor-in-chief as well as the other positions on staff, such as managing editor, photo editor, webmaster, and arts and entertainment editor.

Editor-in-chief applicants will be interviewed by the Student Publications Committee on Wednesday, May 18, beginning at 3:30 p.m. The 10-member committee consists of LBCC students, faculty and staff and meets each spring to appoint a new Commuter editor-in-chief.

The duties of The Commuter's editor-in-chief include:

Appointing and managing the newspaper's staff of editors, reporters and photographers.
Coordinating the work of the staff, including assigning and editing stories and photos.
Leading staff meetings and other newspaper activities.
Representing the newspaper in the college community.

The next editor-in-chief, who will succeed current editor Justin Bolger, starts the position over the summer and continues through the 2011-12 school year.

The deadline to submit editor-in-chief applications is Monday, May 16.

Applications for staff positions are available at The Commuter office in Forum 222, or from the newspaper’s adviser, Rob Priewe. His office is in North Santiam Hall, room 114.

For more information about the application process or duties of the various Commuter staff positions, contact Priewe at 541-917-4563 or rob.priewe@linnbenton.edu.

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A New Term for Journalism at LBCC

noreply@blogger.com (Rob's Media Blog) — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 21:05:00 +0000

"Finish/Start" by I Like, courtesy of Flickr.com/Creative Commons.

We are off and running into a new term at LBCC.

All the Journalism classes are full and students have created the blogs they will use to display their work this term. Check them out in the blogrolls to the right of this post.

I'm looking forward to a great term.

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LBCC Winter Term Means New Student Blogs

noreply@blogger.com (Rob's Media Blog) — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 18:57:00 +0000

Take a look to the right and you'll find a new lineup of student blogs for Winter Term.

This term LBCC's Journalism program is offering Feature Writing (JN217) and Media & Society (JN201). Like most other departments on campus, all the Journalism classes are already full.

As part of their coursework, students in these classes will publish their work on their own blogs. Check out some of the student journalism from last term as well.

The Commuter also is fully staffed and looking forward to working with students new to writing, reporting, editing and photography. Numerous students are enrolled in the Journalism Lab (JN215A) and the Design and Production Lab (JN215B), where they contribute weekly to both the printed edition of The Commuter as well as the online site.

This promises to be another great term. The staff of the Commuter is looking into attending another journalism conference this spring, possibly the Associated Collegiate Press convention March 3-6 in Los Angeles.

Finally, The Commuter and LBCC will once again be host to the annual Collegiate Day conference organized by the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association. This event, May 6, is a one-day journalism conference and awards program for the state's college journalists.

So there's a lot going on in the months ahead!

(Photo credit: "extreme sports and blogging" by Will Lion, courtesy of Flickr.com/Creative Commons)
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Welcome to Fall Term Journalism at LBCC

noreply@blogger.com (Rob's Media Blog) — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 17:52:00 +0000

Thanks for checking out "Rob's Class Blog." This is where you will find work posted by my students during Fall Term 2010.

This term I'll be teaching sections on News Reporting, Photojournalism and Media & Society.

I'm looking forward to reading and enjoying the journalism produced by my LBCC students, and encourage you to check back from time to time during the term.

The class assignments produced these students also will be considered for publication by the staff of The Commuter, LBCC's award-winning student newspaper.

To find out what else is going on in journalism, new media and LBCC's Journalism program, see "Rob's Media Blog."

(Photo credit: "Third Tuesday #Olympic Journalism" by rocketcandy/Elizabeth Sarobhasa, courtesy of Flickr.com/Creative Commons.)
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Moving to WordPress - robpriewe.com

noreply@blogger.com (Rob's Media Blog) — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 18:57:00 +0000

At long last, I'm making the jump to WordPress.

See my new and improved blog as it evolves at robpriewe.com.

-rp-

PDX marketing experiment features Fiesta, clothes and concerts

noreply@blogger.com (Rob's Media Blog) — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 18:31:00 +0000

Interesting story in the Oregonian about "lifestyle marketing" and creating a "cultural hub" around a product. In this case, the Ford Fiesta, which is being displayed in a downtown Portland store space that serves as a "lounge"/clothes boutique during the day and concert space at night. The story, "Ford taps local flavor to sell Fiesta," was written by Oregonian reporter Elliott Njus.

And while we're thinking of creative, innovative, interesting ideas, check out "Ten Inspiring TED Talks for Startups," a blog compiling 10 favorite TED videos focusing on innovation and creativity. (It includes two of my favorites by Seth Godin and Clay Shirky.) It's on the ReadWriteStart blog.

-rp-

Old Spice Guy: A Guide to Viral Marketing?

noreply@blogger.com (Rob's Media Blog) — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 23:28:00 +0000

For those of us who can't get enough of the "Old Spice Guy," make way ...

Niraj Chockshi of The Atlantic writes how the company and its ad agency have targeted social media sites to generate buzz that just keeps on keeping on.

... and does any of this have to do with the future of news? Maybe, as this Nieman Journalism Lab post notes ...

Or if you'd like to know how Portland marketing geniuses Wieden + Kennedy are making these "ads" ...

... Or the "Man Your Grades Could Be Like" -- a terrific parody by the creative library crew at Brigham Young University.

-rp-

TED Talk Focuses on YouTube, Copyright

noreply@blogger.com (Rob's Media Blog) — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 15:02:00 +0000

Here's an inside look at how YouTube is addressing copyright issues.

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Powered by Orange: A Social Marketing Case Study

noreply@blogger.com (Rob's Media Blog) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 17:44:00 +0000

If you live anywhere near Oregon, you'd have to be living in a cone of silence to not be familiar with "Powered by Orange."

Powered by Orange is the social marketing juggernaut that's boosting the image and awareness of Oregon State University far and wide. The apparent success of the campaign was summed up recently in a piece by Kaukab Jhumra Smith, "'It's OK to Be Imperfect': One School's Quest for Social-marketing Success."

As OSU's VP for University Advancement Luanne Lawrence notes in the article, not everything goes as planned when it comes to social marketing. However, most of the experiments the university is trying seem to be paying off in terms of engaging students, staff, and most important, alumni and others seeking a connection to OSU.

In addition to soaring traffic on OSU's website, the article notes an increase in first-time donations by alums and a wave of new enrollment. As Jhumra Smith points out, here's what OSU is doing:

Recruiting bloggers from around campus to be opinion leaders.
Training staff, students and faculty to use social media platforms to talk about the work and campus life.
Emphasizing relationships through meetups, contests and other events.
Soliciting videos and other submissions to build participation.
Creating an online directory and making available marketing materials to businesses and others who want to join in the campaign.

“It’s really kind of fun to make mistakes in social media because you can learn and recover very quickly,” Lawrence said in the article. “Fifteen- to 25-year-olds are rebuilding every aspect of the industry, and I’m listening to them.”

Michael Stoner examined Powered by Orange a year ago, calling the campaign "the most comprehensive university social marketing campaign that we’ve seen to date."

Believe it.

-rp-

Meet the Commuter's Next Editor: Justin Bolger

noreply@blogger.com (Rob's Media Blog) — Thu, 20 May 2010 02:32:00 +0000

This year Justin Bolger was managing editor of a Commuter staff that earned 15 awards at the annual statewide journalism competition. He's looking to raise the bar even higher as editor-in-chief.

On Wednesday, LBCC's Student Publications Committee appointed Bolger the next editor-in-chief at the Commuter. He will succeed Max Brown, whose tenure will wrap up with the newspaper's last issue of the school year on June 2.

The Commuter's editor-in-chief manages the daily activities of the student newspaper beginning in the summer and continuing through the school year. The duties of newspaper's top editor include:

* Setting the editorial direction of the paper.
* Appointing the managing the newspaper's staff of editors, reporters and photographers.
* Coordinating the work of the staff, including assigning and editing stories and photos.
* Leading staff meetings and other newspaper activities.
* Representing the newspaper in the college community.

In collaboration with Brown and other staffers at the paper, Bolger focused on expanding the coverage of campus news, focusing heavily on LBCC events, staff and students. In interviewing for the top job, Bolger said he would like next year's staff to maintain the paper's commitment to campus coverage but also expand interactions with readers, including more interactivity on the newspaper's website as well as more diversity of opinion in the pages of the printed edition.

Earlier this month, the Commuter earned 15 awards in the annual Collegiate Newspaper Contest organized by the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association. Bolger earned a first-place award for editorial writing. LBCC and the Commuter hosted this year's Collegiate Day, ONPA's annual college journalism conference and awards program.

The 10-member Student Publications Committee consists of LBCC students, faculty and staff and meets each spring to interview editor-in-chief applicants and appoint a new Commuter editor.

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U.S. Poet Leureate Kay Ryan visits LBCC

noreply@blogger.com (Rob's Media Blog) — Fri, 14 May 2010 16:19:00 +0000

Photo by Christina Koci Hernandez/Library of Congress

Like the next-door neighbor stopping by to chat, Kay Ryan visited with LBCC this week, sharing her poetry, insights to her craft and what it's like to be the nation's poet laureate.

She entertained more than 400 area residents who filled the Russell Tripp Performance Center for her reading Wednesday afternoon. Another 75 or so students crammed into LBCC's Library Reading Room to ask her questions on Thursday morning.

During the reading, she shared a variety of poems from her 30-year writing career. Many of them have been published or republished in her just-released collection, "Best of It: News and Selected Poems." Among those she read was "Train-Track Figure":

Imagine a
train-track figure
made of sliver
over sliver of
between-car
vision, each
slice too brief
to add detail
or deepen: that
could be a hat
if it's a person
if it's a person
if it's a person.
Just the same
scant information
timed to supplant
the same scant
information.

She also read a poem called “The Walking Stick Insect.” It was one of several Ryan poems inspired by the odd collection that Robert Leroy Ripley made famous in his "Ripley's Believe It or Not" books.

The epigraph to the poem, which is from "Jam Jar Lifeboat & Other Novelties Exposed," says, “The walking stick insect of South America often loses an antenna or leg — but always grows a new appendage. Often nature makes a mistake and a new antenna grows where the leg was lost.” Here it is:

Eventually the

most accident-prone

or war-weary

walking sticks

are entirely

reduced to antennae

with which they

pick their way

sensitively,

appalled by

everything’s

intensity.

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LBCC Looks to Select Next Commuter Editor

noreply@blogger.com (Rob's Media Blog) — Sun, 09 May 2010 22:27:00 +0000

In two weeks LBCC's student newspaper, The Commuter, will know the next editor-in-chief.

On May 19 the college's Student Publications Committee will interview applicants vying to become next year's editor. The Commuter's editor-in-chief manages the daily activities of the student newspaper beginning in the summer and continuing through the school year.

The Student Publications Committee is now accepting applications for the position.

The current editor-in-chief, Max Brown, will wrap up his tenure with publication of the last edition for this school year on June 2. Brown took over for Ryan Henson at the end of fall term, after Henson had to return to Pennsylvania for family reasons.

The duties of The Commuter's editor-in-chief include:

Setting the editorial direction of the paper
Appointing the managing the newspaper's staff of editors, reporters and photographers
Coordinating the work of the staff, including assigning and editing stories and photos
Leading staff meetings and other newspaper activities
Representing the newspaper in the college community

For an application and more information, those seeking to become editor-in-chief can contact The Commuter's adviser, Rob Priewe, by stopping by his office in North Santiam Hall, Room 114, or by calling 541-917-4563. Or send e-mail to rob.priewe@linnbenton.edu.

The 10-member Student Publications Committee consists of LBCC students, faculty and staff and meets each spring to interview applicants and appoint a new Commuter editor.

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ONPA Holds Annual Collegiate Day at LBCC

noreply@blogger.com (Rob's Media Blog) — Wed, 05 May 2010 22:53:00 +0000

The Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association will hold its annual Collegiate Day journalism workshop and awards program this Friday, May 7, at Linn-Benton Community College in Albany.

More than 100 college journalists from around the state are expected to attend the event, which will include four journalism workshops and presentation of awards in the Collegiate Newspaper Contest.

This year's morning workshops are:

"Interviewing," by KeizerTimes Publisher Lyndon Zaitz
"Social Networking and the Media," by Corvallis Gazette-Times Entertainment Editor Nancy Raskauskas and Oregonian Sports Writer Lindsay Schnell
"Open Records/Meetings and Legal/Ethics," by Portland State University Student Publications Adviser Judson Randall and Duane Bosworth, a partner in the Portland law firm of Davis Wright Tremaine
"Building a Strong Editorial Page," by Albany Democrat-Herald Editor Hasso Hering

In the afternoon, the student journalists will be recognized for outstanding works of journalism printed in their school publications over the past year. These include writing, editing and photography awards. The top publications will be honored with the General Excellence Award for their staffs.

The annual contest is supported by the ONPA's Oregon Newspapers Foundation. Awards will be presented by Martha Wells, publisher of the Albany Democrat-Herald and immediate past president of ONPA.

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Luckie Shares Tips for Open-Source Newsroom

noreply@blogger.com (Rob's Media Blog) — Mon, 03 May 2010 23:17:00 +0000

SAN FRANCISCO -- The open-source newsroom of tomorrow has arrived.

Mark Luckie, a veteran journalist and expert in using new media tools, provided journalists with a smorgasbord of open-source technology they can use to improve they way they gather, process and distribute news to their readers. Luckie, creator of the popular "10,000 Words" blog, spoke Sunday during the "Journalism Innovations III" conference at the University of San Francisco.

All the tools he demonstrated can be downloaded for free or purchased for less than $10. Luckie uses many of the tools regularly in his job as a multimedia producer at CaliforniaWatch, a project of the Center for Investigative Journalism.

Declaring himself at "PC guy" at the outset, he noted that he uses Macs at work and all of the software he demonstrated can be used on either system.

These days, he added, journalists at large, medium and small organizations as well as those flying solo are using these tools to better organize information, tell stories and serve readers.

Here is the list of tools he discussed during his presentation (See http://10000words.net/ji3 to link directly to all these tools):

Content Management Systems/Collaboration
WordPress
Drupal
Buddy Press
Google Docs

Audio/Video Editing
GarageBand
iMovie
Audacity

Photo Editing
Splashup
Fotoflexer

Creating Maps/Interactive Graphics
UMapper
Map Builder
PhotoPeach
Dipity

Wikis/Collaboration
MediaWiki
CoverItLive
UStream

iPhone Apps
WordPress for iPhone
FourTrack
Pano
AudioBoo

Luckie has written about most of these tools on his 10,000 Words blog.

The conference was sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists, Northern California Chapter, and Independent Arts & Media.

For more information, Luckie invited e-mail at mluckie@10000words.net. Or follow him on Twitter -- http://twitter.com/10000Words.

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Journalists Highlight Violence Against Overseas Media

noreply@blogger.com (Rob's Media Blog) — Mon, 03 May 2010 20:49:00 +0000

Teru Kuwayama is one of a declining number of photographers and reporters working in war zones. He has covered conflicts in Pakistan, Iraq, and Afghanistan, to name a few. Here is an example of his work from the front lines.

Photo courtesy of Teru Kuwayama

SAN FRANCISCO -- Photojournalist Teru Kuwayama spent a week being shuttled from one Tajik military base to another after he was apprehended and detained by Tajikistan soldiers on the border with Afghanistan. Eventually, the U.S. journalist was freed with the arrival of U.S. Army and State Department officers.

Kuwayama was fortunate, however. He had the might of the United States backing his standing as a freelance photographer in war zones from Pakistan and Iraq to Afghanistan. He knows many others, especially those in-country contacts (e.g. drivers, translators and other foreign journalists) who died pursuing stories, photos and the free flow of information in their homelands.

During a discussion Sunday titled "International News in the 21st Century" at the University of San Francisco, Kuwayama and other panelists lamented the decline not only in the number of foreign correspondents and photographers working for mainstream U.S. media organizations, but also the escalating violence against overseas journalists and those who help them report what is going on.

The talk was part of the "Journalism Innovations III" conference co-hosted by the Society of Professional Journalists and Independent Arts & Media. Joining Kuwayama on the panel were Ricardo Sandoval Palos of the Center for Public Integrity in Washington, D.C., along with SPJ National President Kevin Smith and Ronnie Lovler, international news editor for Newswire21, based in the Bay Area.

The panelists agreed that the alarming decline of foreign journalists employed by U.S. media has been part of a precipitous decline in foreign news-gathering. At the same time, the absence of U.S. journalists has emboldened foreign governments and warring factions to step up killings, kidnappings and threats against those who report the news and others who assist in news-gathering, also known as "fixers." Fixers are critical in providing logistical support, including travel, food and shelter, to foreign journalists.

They are the "undocumented labor force of international journalism," the people who do the heavy lifting, Kuwayama noted.

Sandoval Palos alluded to the growing violence in Mexico and Latin America, which has claimed the lives of several journalists and numerous threats based on stories they either have published or are reporting.

Smith, president of the largest organization of journalists in the United States, said SPJ is stepping up lobbying efforts, urging the State Department and other agencies to defend the work of foreign journalists. SPJ also is partnering with overseas journalism organizations such as the International Federation of Journalists.

Overseas, Smith added, the United States remains the "guiding light" for a free press and democracy. However, violence against journalists is on the rise, threatening the free flow of information and the pursuit of democracy around the globe.

Asked about the shrinking pool of foreign correspondents, Kuwayama described himself as a "hybrid, freelance war tourist." He has worked for a variety of news organizations, including Time magazine.

Unfortunately, Sandoval Palos said, fewer people such as Kuwayama are doing the important work of reporting news in foreign lands, particularly war zones. And those who are, need all the support they can get.

"If we don't do it," he said, "we have fewer voices that will be heard."

-rp-

LB's Student Journalists Head to SF Conference

noreply@blogger.com (Rob's Media Blog) — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 03:59:00 +0000

This weekend LBCC's student journalists will mingle with the pros at the Society of Professional Journalists regional conference at the University of San Francisco. Titled "Journalism Innovations III: The New Business of the News Business," this Region 11 SPJ gathering will focus on new ventures in the "changing mediascape."

"Journalism isn't dying, it's on the cusp of a new era," declare the organizers. I couldn't agree more.

This year I've got 14 students signed up to attend workshops such as "The New Student Journalism," "Committing Acts of Journalism and Public Health," "New Media, New Ethics?" and "Building the Open-Source Newsroom." Among the other attractions is the premiere of a new documentary: "A Fragile Trust: Jayson Blair and the New York Times."

The conference runs April 30-May 2.

-rp-

Jeff Jarvis Explains It All!

noreply@blogger.com (Rob's Media Blog) — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 03:31:00 +0000

At long last, here is that Jeff Jarvis lecture in the spirit of TED.

As noted a several weeks ago ... it's an interesting speech on education, media, innovation, Google, collaboration ... and it starts with the "What Would Google Do?" author declaring, "This is bullshit."

Here's a couple excerpts from the rest:

I tell media that they must become collaborative, because the public knows much, because people want to create, not just consume, because collaboration is a way to expand news, because it is a way to save expenses. I argue that news is a process, not a product. Indeed, I say that communities can now share information freely – the marginal cost of their news is zero. We in journalism should ask where we can add value. But note that that in this new ecosystem, the news doesn’t start with us. It starts with the community.

And...

We must stop our culture of standardized testing and standardized teaching. ... In the Google age, what is the point of teaching memorization?
We must stop looking at education as a product – in which we turn out every student giving the same answer – to a process, in which every student looks for new answers. Life is a beta.

Why shouldn’t every university – every school – copy Google’s 20% rule, encouraging and enabling creation and experimentation, every student expected to make a book or an opera or an algorithm or a company. Rather than showing our diplomas, shouldn’t we show our portfolios of work as a far better expression of our thinking and capability? The school becomes not a factory but an incubator.

It's a good speech that picks up on many of the concepts Jarvis continues to tout on BuzzMachine, his various talks and, of course, in "WWGD?"

-rp-

Twitter in Real Life?

noreply@blogger.com (Rob's Media Blog) — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 05:40:00 +0000

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Next week, the Media and Society class at LBCC will examine new technology and the Internet, including social media tools such as Twitter, Facebook and blogging. Here's a fun video about Twitter from College Humor.

-rp-

Newspapers Add Value with "Unexpected Relevance"

noreply@blogger.com (Rob's Media Blog) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 10:47:00 +0000

When we get to the newspaper unit in LBCC's Media and Society class, one aspect of newspapers we agree that we like is how you happen upon stories, photos and other items that catch your interest as you turn the pages. You learn about things that you weren't necessarily looking for. You become engaged with something you didn't expect.

In a new blog post, new media expert Jeff Jarvis discusses this phenomenon: "Serendipity is not randomness. It is unexpected relevance."

He goes on to explain:

There’s a reason we find value in the supposedly serendipitous. ... When we read a paper and find a good story that we couldn’t have predicted we’d have liked, we think that is serendipity. But there’s some reason we like it, that we find it relevant to us.

Maybe that relevance is the unknown but now fed curiosity, maybe it’s enjoyment of good writing or a certain kind of tale, maybe the gift of some interesting fact we want to share and gain social equity for, maybe it’s a challenge to our ideas, maybe an answer to a question that has bugged us. In the end, it has value to us; it’s relevant.

To me, this discovery of something new waiting within the pages is one of the top reasons I keep buying and reading newspapers, and why we will always need editors and others to bring these gems to our attention.

As Jarvis notes, this wondrous sense of serendipity is one of the things that many media observers believe will be lost with the decline of newspapers. I agree when he suggests a somewhat similar sensation occurs through the use of Facebook and Twitter, where we're constantly discovering something new.

But it just doesn't feel the same as that comfortable encounter with the inky printed medium.

-rp-

(Photo credit: "Surprise from above" by zetson, courtesy of Flickr.com/Creative Commons)

LBCC Spring Term: Media & Society Kicks Off with Shirky

noreply@blogger.com (Rob's Media Blog) — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 21:11:00 +0000

Over the break, I finished reading Clay Shirky's book, "Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations." It's an interesting exploration of society, the Internet and how social media (e.g. blogs, Facebook, Twitter) is changing the way we communicate.

Shirky emphasizes the power of the Internet as a tool to organize, and how people passionate about a cause are succeeding like no other time in history. It's not that people are more dedicated to their particular target for change, it's just that the Internet has made it more possible to quickly find people of like mind and to mobilize faster than ever before. Shirky includes a number of interesting case studies to support his claims and propel the reader through his book.

We focus on some of Shirky's ideas at the outset of my Media and Society class at Linn-Benton Community College. For a sneak peek, enjoy both Shirky's TED talk and this video from the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco.

Updated:
--For a discussion of some of the ideas in Shirky's upcoming book, "Cognitive Surplus," see this new post on Kevin Kelly's blog.

-rp-

Social Media for PR Pros Working with Reporters

noreply@blogger.com (Rob's Media Blog) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 17:36:00 +0000

A friend and local public relations professional sent me a Facebook message asking my opinion on a couple of questions she was considering for a newsletter article she was writing about social media, public relations and working with reporters.

She asked:

1. How have relationships changed between reporters and public relations professionals over the last decade?

2. What tips would you offer to a public relations professional to interact with reporters and build a trusted relationship?

Here's my response:

In this age of social media, public relations professionals have more authority – and responsibility – than ever before. This includes their relationships with news reporters and other media professionals, who they now outnumber.

With smaller newsrooms and tighter deadlines, reporters are even more reliant on public relations professionals to provide quick and accurate details about breaking news events or background information for longer-term stories. Reporters are working at breakneck speed these days to post stories online, so making immediate contact with knowledgeable, responsive PR pros is essential. Where once there existed a more clearly separate reporter-source relationship, today it’s all about collaboration.

Just as journalists are feeling more pressed to deliver, public relations professionals are under increasing pressure to stay “ahead of the story,” whether responding to an incident involving their company or setting the news agenda. And with extensive social media networks and information distribution channels of their own, they no longer have to rely solely on the news media to “get the word out.”

Meanwhile, customers as well as news and information consumers no longer have to depend on the media to find out what’s going on. Here’s where the job of public relations professionals becomes most critical, and must be most transparent. Customers want the facts and they want them now. They are savvy enough to recognize spin. And with their own social media networks, they will punish businesses and public relations professionals who mess with them. Who can afford having a Facebook campaign launched against them?!

With this in mind, here are some tips for public relations professionals looking to build a stronger relationship with the media:

Take full advantage of all the social media tools out there – Facebook, Facebook fan pages, Twitter, blogs, YouTube, Google maps, Flickr, Web sites, podcasts, wikis … and don’t forget old standbys such as e-mail.
Make reporters part of your personal and professional networks: become Facebook friends, invite people to become Facebook “fans” and Twitter followers.
Dedicate time every day to updating and maintaining your social media presence, making your media contacts aware of important business and industry news and articles, along with bloggers, Web sites and other “insider” resources they can use to inform readers.
Don’t neglect old-fashioned face time and telephone calls. Take advantage of informal “meetups” and other opportunities to connect outside of typical business “transactions.”
Be ever proactive, anticipating news and be ready to take immediate action.

What’s changed over the past decade? Building and maintaining a strong relationship with media professionals remains as important as ever. What’s changed primarily are the tools available, and the speed at which you are expected to respond.

A really good resource is the book “Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust” by Chris Brogan and Julian Smith. In addition to Chris Brogan, I’ve listed several other good marketing/public relations blogs in the “New Media” and “Eye on Marketing” sections of this blog (look to the right).

-rp-

(Photo credit: "News Reporter" by Truthout.org, courtesy of Flickr/Creating Commons)

Epic Video: "WOW" Can Save the World

noreply@blogger.com (Rob's Media Blog) — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:03:00 +0000

Here's a sneak peak of a video I plan to show Spring term in Media & Society, a class I teach at Linn-Benton Community College.

The video, one of many fine works produced by TED (Technology, Education, Design), features Jane McGonigal of the Institute for the Future. In this video she shares her optimism for the future of the human race, which quite possibly could be saved by those who share the traits of the most engaged video gamers, those who play "World of Warcraft."

Gamers, she suggests, possess four invaluable qualities that could be applied to solving real-life problems. They:

Possess "urgent optimism"
Weave a trusted "social fabric"
Engage in "blissful productivity"
Desire "epic meaning"

The result of these traits is a booming number of people she describes as "super-empowered hopeful individuals," who may have the kind of determination and attitude it takes to save the planet.

With two boys who play hours of WOW and other games, I see the traits about which she speaks. I'm not sure whether my sons are quite ready to save the world, but I'm willing to let them take a shot at it...

-rp-

Ted Rall Cartoon: How (Not) to Save Newspapers

noreply@blogger.com (Rob's Media Blog) — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 02:11:00 +0000

Ted Rall spotlights the strategy that too many newspapers continue to cling to...

... and another story tip from Reportr.net: Paywalls not the answer for newspaper online revenue...

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