Archive for August, 2007
The Sun slashes its price to 20p
August 31st, 2007
Britain’s biggest selling daily newspaper The Sun will cost just 20p from Monday in London and the South-East. It currently sells nationally for 35p.
The move is aimed at keeping sales of the tabloid above three million copies a day. With the South-East accounting for 20 per cent of its sales, News International is obviously prepared to take a hit to circulation revenue in order to keep its hardcopy readership.
By comparison, News International will increase the cover price of the Times from 65p to 70p on Monday, bringing it in line with its rivals the Daily Telegraph, the Independent and the Guardian.
Bring on a newspaper pricing war I say! In my world the purchasing of newspapers is becoming increasingly a luxury rather than a necessity. My RSS feeds deliver all the news I can eat, but there’s still nothing like a weekend paper in the garden over breakfast.
Vint gives a media masterclass…
August 29th, 2007
Vint Cerf is doing the rounds with the UK media at the moment, I’m sure you’ve seen him, read about him, or heard him over the last few days.
I’ve been monitoring his interviews with interest, and not just because he’s one of the founding fathers of the internet, but because he gives a masterclass in how to deal with media questioning.
This is a subject that’s been high up on the agenda at Liberate Media today, so I thought I’d use Vint’s interviews as a case study and sure enough he didn’t disappoint.
My immediate thought was how has he managed to steer clear of all the negative press that the internet has kicked up over the last few years?
My answer quickly became apparent in an interview with ITV news this afternoon when he seamlessly side-stepped a negative question about the less desirable side of the internet, by turning it on its head and highlighting it was in fact society at fault, which the internet merely reflected.
This isn’t a new revelation from Mr Cerf, he uses it fairly regularly, so I thought that BBC Radio 4’s Today programme would give him a sterner test. When asked a similar question focused on content, in his guise as Google’s chief internet evangelist, Mr Cerf admitted Google “felt a responsibility” when it came to content that people were accessing via its search engine, but added that the company did not have control over what users posted. Only when illegal content was brought to its attention should it be compelled to act.
Beautiful, he answered the question but at the same time removed himself and his organisation from the glare of blame.
This strategy continued and he remained non-committal about issues of regulating the internet and the legal repercussions of illegal content.
Of course this strategy wouldn’t work for all spokespeople. Mr Cerf is only rolled out for non-contentious evangelism, and I’m not suggesting it as the key to media training, but I did stand back and appreciate that he’s gone into each interview with a game plan and delivered his messages. He has steered the conversation masterfully and only covered the subjects he wanted to.
It’s no coincidence that his interviews and quotes all sound the same. There’s only one person in control and that’s Mr Cerf.
August 24th, 2007
Tom Coates, author of Plasticbag.org, has reignited the blogger relations debate with an attack on PRs who consider “(him) an outlet to push their marketing messages.”
The discussion has sparked passionate reaction with Ben Ayers at ITV, and Drew B, to name just a couple. I won’t attempt to reconstruct their sides of the argument here - please go and have a read as the conversation gets to the crux of the contentious relationship between PR and bloggers.
I find myself pulled in several different directions, as I’m a former digital journalist, PR and blogger. I have the utmost respect for Tom Coates’ side of the argument, and it’s a shame that he feels PRs have soured his enjoyment of blogging…but I don’t feel his argument is a fair representation of the entire blogosphere.
Blogging is by its nature an open communications forum. Those who include the facility for readers to provide comments are posting an open invitation for others to contribute to their views and editorial, and there is no reason why PRs shouldn’t be able to contribute in just as an intelligent and useful way as anyone else. Although I have done the unspeakable and crossed over to the dark side, I haven’t lost my sense of judgement or understanding in the process!
I totally agree with Ben Ayers’ argument that there is nothing wrong with blogger relations, so long as it is done well. If a PR decides to communicate with a blogger, it is because they respect the quality of their writing, and consider their authority on a subject to be equal or better to that of a journalist. The communication might be unwanted, but it should equally be taken as a compliment. Tell us once that you don’t want to be contacted again, and that should be the end of it.
The PR industry as a whole has a lot to learn about how to communicate with social networks important to their clients, but no one has the right to exclude us from doing this in the right way. The good PRs among us have a lot of knowledge and insight to offer to any conversation within their expertise, and have access to people who really know what’s going on. So long as our communication is well-researched and targeted, there should be no one holding us back.
Furthermore, it’s our job to make sure that our clients are listening to what’s being written about them online, to learn what’s important to their network. We can help the evolution of social media-led conversations if you let us!
Finally, a real use for the term: ‘Web 2.0′
August 21st, 2007
Hands up all those that want the internet to have more reliable data transfers at higher speeds, and be more resistant to viruses and crashes. Oh and end world poverty.
Everyone then? Well good news, it seems the Japanese have taken on this colossal task…all except the world poverty issue, but I thought if we’re dealing with miracles why not throw that one on top? No, too much? Ah well, worth a try.
According to Japanese communications minister Yoshihide Suga, Japan will start research and development on technology for a new generation network that will eventually replace the internet, entering commercial use in 2020.
I love it, what a great way to highlight your nation’s technological genius, while locking everyone in to your new network, than reshaping the digital world as we know it and starting a newer, cleaner, faster, more resilient internet. I’d love to see the budget for that project.
engadget has the story.
August 20th, 2007
We are what we read…well at least that is the hypothesis for a forthcoming TV documentary in which the maker, Nick Angel, gives up all news sources except the Daily Mail.
All television, radio, print and online news sources are excluded from his media diet for 28 days. His only source of news is the middle market tabloid the Daily Mail.
According to today’s report in the MediaGuardian, Angel begins the documentary with the belief that the Mail’s main purpose is to “terrify its readers” and make the world seem like a more menacing place. If his judgement is right, it will be interesting to see what mental state he’s in at the end of the month-long experiment.
It will undoubtedly make good TV viewing, but in terms of worth, the impact of print journalism is no longer where the media industry is focusing. A month with only the blogosphere for news might have been a more relevant experiment for today.
The documentary will be aired on Wednesday evening on Current TV.