The Thoughtful Thud Revisited

30 Days Hath September......

 

With access to news content still dominating the communications agenda, here’s an exercise for you to carry out in your country.

Work out the cost of buying 1 newspaper a day for 6 days (I know you buy more than 1!) and I Sunday newspaper and total the cost for let’s say 30 days to give us a t8ypical monthly figure.

The result I got to for this combination of newspapers in the UK and without 5 days of an evening newspaper at 0.50p each, was £29.60 a month. Compare this to a survey of 450 people for the American Press Institute just over half would be prepared to pay an average of $4.60 (just under £3) – a month! The exclamation is mine. 47% of those surveyed said t hey would not pay at all.

The biggest surprise is that it took so long for this to be written...

It’s been called The Internet Manifesto: 17 Declarations on the future of journalism in the age of the internet written by15 German journalists and bloggers.

It doesn't hold back, for example Declaration 6 asserts: “The Internet changes improves journalism“– the word struck through is the authors‘not mine. I doubt their assertion. News on the web is faster, yes, but the web also improves journalism?  Doubtful, for me,even though I acknowledge the power of the digital society.

 

But perhaps the most contentious, or certainly interesting, is no. 13. Copyright becomes a civic duty on the Internet“, stating: “Copyright is a cornerstone of information organization on the Internet. Originators’ rights to decide on the type and scope of dissemination of their contents are also valid on the net. At the same time, copyright may not be abused as a lever to safeguard obsolete supply mechanisms and shut out new distribution models or license schemes. Ownership entails obligations.“

 

If I understand their points properly, my intepretation is that it seems to suggest it’s right that people can decide on how their content is distributed but then delivers the counter punch: access to newspaper and publishing content should be free, in other words, free of license schemes. But like I said, it is my interpretation. I wonder who will tell that to Mr Murdoch?

 

Whatever you may think, it’s a thoughtful piece of work. The only surprise is that no-one authored such a Manifesto before.

 

 

Media Analysis work “a distraction”

On the face of it – and that is only what an observer can do – it is an unusual step for the US Military authorities in Afghanistan to terminate a contract with a PR company for producing, to client instruction, profiles of reporters about to travel to the war zone.

What I found interesting was the open and highly measured way the PR consultancy, The Rendon Group PR consultancy view, explained the nature of its work for the Public Affairs Office of US Forces in Afghanistan, on its website and stressed these key points:  

·         “Information and analysis we generate is developed by quantifying themes and topics and not by ranking of reporters. The analysis is not provided as the basis for accepting or rejecting a specific journalist's inquiries and we do not make recommendations as to who the military should or should not interview.”

·         “The media analysis provided at the request of the public affairs office, was constructed from open source information with the intent to enumerate and quantify key aspects (topics, subjects) of coverage relevant to the Afghanistan mission. Any reference to positive, negative or neutral in our analysis is derived by quantifying the content in relation to mission objectives.”

Sound, research based consultancy advice. it's the type of work is carried out day out and day in by research firms and PR consultancies across the world. Often it is the client (and typically the CEO) who wants to know “more about the reporter”.  

It’s essential business intelligence gathering, whoever your client is. Even in a war zone?