Video in a Magazine?

from www.usatoday.com

Sounds next to impossible, but it’s happening. For some folks subscribing to Entertainment Weekly in New York and Los Angeles, there will be a video player in the fall preview edition of the magazine that’s slated for availability on September 11. Here’s the article from USAToday.

While the primary purpose of the video is to promote CBS’s fall lineup, I think the technology has the possibility of doing more than just that. Could this be the saving grace for magazines and newspapers? In the future will we see and hear magazine ads that include jingles? Could Rolling Stone become what MTV was supposed to be and actually play a video within their pages? Will we eventually become so annoyed with people “reading” their magazines in public that they’ll come equipped with a plug for ear buds

Oh the possibilities!

I feel like we’ve just entered the world of The Jetsons.

-that girl

Stretching the Local Ties

One of my pet peeves when it comes to local news is when a local news station takes a national news story and tried to make it local. For example, taking the death of Michael Jackson and finding someone to interview who met him at one time. You know what I mean?

Today’s example comes from WSLS Channel 10 in Roanoke, VA: Suspected SC serial killer has ties to our area.

Quick setup, Patrick Burris is believed to have killed at least five people in South Carolina. His victims seem to have been chosen randomly. This man was one mean guy. I don’t think you will hear anyone interviewed saying, “He was always so quiet,” etc.

I read the article posted on WSLS’ website looking for the connection. Now, I usually scan articles quickly, so I was not surprised that I had to reread the article to find the connection. I think I found it:

Police were still piecing together details of his life. Records show he had lived in Rockingham County, N.C., a rural county near the Virginia border, since the late 1980s, but he also spent a lot of time behind bars.

I did some research and it seems Rockingham County IS in the WSLS market, barely. But after the DTV switch the WSLS has “coverage lost but still served by same network” in the county, (thanks FCC for that clear definition).

So, a bit of a stretch IMHO. Do you know of other examples of where local stations try to make a national story relevant to the area?

~voterblues

Fox News: We Exploit, You Decry

I do not know about the other authors in this blog, but I lean to the right when it comes to politics. So when Fox News came out about ten years ago, I was thrilled.

Today? Not so much.

Basically, Fox News has turned into the Entertainment Tonight and Inside Edition news channel. Their front page headlines are something right out of the Enquirer, although I have not seen Bigfoot on their site yet. I had been meaning to post about this for a while, but today really made me sit down and blog about Fox News.

I scrolled down the front page to look at U.S. News., (I check it at work daily in case there is something in our area that made it national). Before I get to that section, I have to scroll past something that apparently is important since it comes ahead of U.S. News – “Features & Faces” a.k.a. Hollywood crap. Here are today’s topics:

In their section called “Pop Tarts,” ‘Gaga’ for Girly Men. The Fox Sexpert has an article on He’s Just Not That Into You. Then there are these treats:
More Stars Without Makeup!
Natalie Cole Tragedy
Marisa’s Beach Body Tips
Girl on Girl Crushes
Final Film’s Creepy Scene
Celebrity Spare Tires

I am not making this up.

What got me riled up though was the last one. I clicked on it and maybe three of the people listed would be fat. The rest? Normal, healthy bodies. And look at the other items: beach body tips, stars without makeup and other themes over this week include: boob jobs, plastic sugery, more stars without makeup, beach bodies, you name it!

Is this what journalism has come to? Gossip and promoting skinny and beautiful to readers? Forget all the eating disorders out there and body image issues among girls and women. When Hillary Duff “may want to add an extra bicep curl to your [her] routine” according to Fox, what does that make the rest of us?

I am so disappointed at Fox News that I cannot even write this post as well I as I would like. So I apologize to our readers.

I also have a confession. I was a little, sort of, um, interested in some of the stories.

Now off to read something like the Wall Street Journal to cleanse myself.

~voterblues

I Heart Mervin Block

Mervin Block is my newswriting hero. Every two months or so, he posts articles on his website in which he “edits” newscasts. It is nice to see someone trying to bring intelligence back to newswriting!

This month’s post:
For Want of a Nail—And an Editor

~ Voter Blues

Good Day Paul Harvey

RIP Paul Harvey

Why Reporters Enunciate

NSFW language – unless you work in a doctor’s office or strip club.

~ Voter Blues

And So It Begins

This is a very touchy topic, so I am going to tread carefully.

Just forty years ago, black children were not allowed to go to the same schools as white children. Today, we have a black president. Amazing! The walls of racism have been torn down.

And now they are going back up.

Daryl Cagle is an editorial cartoonist for MSNBC.com. He started following me on Twitter and I returned the favor, (http://twitter.com/dcagle). I may not agree on the content of his cartoons, but his caricatures are dead on. The cartoon you see of President Obama in this post is one of his drawings.

I think it is a great caricature of President Obama. It cover his prominent features, his ears, his eyes, his chin, his lips – oh, wait, be careful how you draw his lips – that could be RACIST!

I could go on and on about this, but Daryl’s latest blog post explains it better.

How to Draw Obama

~ Voter Blues

Report More Than the Press Release

While waiting for some things to be repaired at work today, I put on Fox News, HLN, and CNN so I could have some background noise since I could not get any work done.

What happened to news reporting?

Fox and Friends was on, and it was like a coed version of The View. So I switched over to HLN.

The story was about the senator from Missouri, Claire McCaskill, who wanted to cap salaries of CEOs receiving bailout money at $400,000. I have my opinions on this issue, but I will refrain from bringing them up here. The reporters, (or fashion models, I am not sure which), were giddy with excitement over sticking it to the CEOs. Disgusted, I turned over to CNN.

There was a male reporter who was also talking about this issue. He said, “and it feels good” in reference to the CEOs
possibly having thier salary capped.

Excuse the language, but WTF?

Whatever happened to REPORTING the story? All I heard from both stations and their reporters, (yes, I know they are the same company, but the formats are supposed to be different), was the side of this senator. There were no sound bites from the other side of the issue, not even a sound bite from someone OTHER than the senator. Are they her personal press secretaries or are they reporters?

I would gladly take THEIR salary and actually work for it than take a press release from a senator’s office and turn it into some free positive press for her.

~ Voter Blues

Media Priorities

Do you ever stop, look at what the media is covering, and think “What??”

I do.

Blogs and news sites are all ablaze this morning with the shocking story “President Obama calls Jessica Simpson fat!”

Really?

In case you are wondering, a larger summary of the interview can be found here.  You know, where it mentions that they talked about Iraq, the economy, and the stimulus package.  However, no one is talking about those facets of the interview.  Instead, they’re talking about the President calling Jessica Simpson fat.

I’m not going to comment on that aspect.  Instead, I want to bring up the question “Why do we care?”  Many people may say “I don’t”.  That’s all well and good, but there’s an audience for this.  People eat this up.  Anna Nicole od’ing was breaking news on CNN.  How many headlines repeatedly asked “Where does Danilyn go?”  Paris Hilton going to jail caused all the major networks to come in and film her being taken away in a cop car.  Who freaking cares?

People do.  But the question arises of what role journalists play in feeding in to this frenzy?  Do they have a responsibility, or are they just being held slave to the almighty ratings = dollars equation?  Once upon a time, some journalist somewhere decided to put a celebrity story on the mainstream media, and it obviously took off from there.

Instead of criticizing Obama for making the comment, let’s not leave Matt Lauer out of the equation.  In a country in economic crisis, under new leadership, and having many problems, did he really have to hold up the issue of US Weekly and include it in to the interview?

I don’t care what Obama said about Jessica Simpson.  I care more that no one feels the need to criticize Matt Lauer for even asking this question.

Branding the News

When it comes to marketing, branding is one of the most important things a company can do. It makes a company stand out. Examples of branding slogans:

Hallmark: When you care enough to send the very best.

Visa: It’s everywhere you want to be.

Wheaties: The breakfast of champions.

Examples of branding logos:

Then there are news sources:

The New York Times: All the News That’s Fit to Print

Chicago Tribune: World’s Greatest Newspaper

Fox: We Report, You Decide

Despite what people want to believe, the news business is just that – a business. They need to attract customers just like Hallmark, Visa, or Target.

But one of the things that some news organizations, especially local news organizations, do not understand is that it takes time for branding to be, well, branded into someone’s head. I know I still think of McDonald’s as “You Deserve a Break Today” instead of the new “I’m Lovin’ It” which has been the slogan since 2003.

In an attempt to increase ratings, I have seen one local television station change it’s logo and it’s slogan, three times since 1994. That averages a change every five years. Note what I said about McDonald’s, the slogan is six years old and I still do not tie that in with the company. Coke is still “The Real Thing” to me, but it’s slogan “Can’t beat the real thing” was changed in 1993. Get the point?

There are times when a branding change is necessary – “NBC: Now broadcasting in color” is not exactly relevant now. I think soon we will see local news stations taking the numbers off of their logo with people using cable and satellite now. A station that is ABCD3, may not be on channel 3 on cable or satellite.

But until events force the change, research and find a brand that works, ask employees, ask long-time residents, but find something and stick with it. Otherwise, you may be known as the station with the identity crisis.

~ Voter Blues