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October 26, 2007
Both Sides Now
When Judy Collins wrote her famous ballad, “Both Sides Now”, I’m certain she did not envisage my borrowing her song title for a blog post. But her two-sided view of clouds helped me reflect on two interesting meetings with start-up ventures in the media arena this week. I appeared as a guest on the Fox Business Channel’s Happy Hour segment at 5 pm with Cody Willard and Rebecca Gomez. I also met with Dick Tofel, general manager of the ProPublica web site which will launch early next year. The contrast between these concepts could not be more stark.
The Fox show is staged at the Bull and Bear Bar at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. As the bar’s patrons imbibe, Cody and Rebecca discuss the day’s events in business. The hook for my appearance was a video by Disney featuring average Americans. It welcomes foreign visitors to the USA as they wait in the interminable lines at the airport to clear customs. I opined about the use of real people, citing the credibility of a “person like you” from the Edelman Trust Barometer 2007. I also discussed the new relevance of peer to peer conversations in marketing PR campaigns for brands such as Dove and Halo3.
Cody, a former hedge fund manager, expresses specific opinions about companies and their stock prices. Rebecca is more oriented to lifestyle trends, new product launches and the intersection of entertainment and business. Both of them are incredibly animated and dedicated to the proposition that business can be fun. The show seems targeted to the demographic that owns stocks but is not really conversant in the intricacies of the market. After my interview, there was a short segment for two guests, myself and a local handbag designer, answering four short subject questions, such as “Can a running machine linked to a trader’s desk be successful Christmas gift on Wall Street?”
Meanwhile, ProPublica, a non-profit investigative news operation funded by the Sandler Foundation, Atlantic Philanthropies, the MacArthur Foundation and the JEHT Foundation, is going in exactly the opposite direction. ProPublica will not accept any advertising. Tofel told me that the venture will have 24 full time reporters. Stories developed by the staff will be given to other media outlets for distribution. For example, if there were an article on improper campaign financing in the US elections, the New York Times or Washington Post might be given the first opportunity to use the story, with a ProPublica tag. Tofel noted that ProPublica will initially be a print oriented enterprise, though a TV aspect could be developed later. The operating budget is$10 million a year for multiple years, so that Paul Steiger, the managing editor (formerly of the Wall Street Journal) can attract the right talent.
So here we witness the morphing of mainstream media. The segmentation of the business continues, with end user flight from general purpose to specific utility, from single source to multiple windows into news. The role of public relations is to adapt our stories to suit the outlet; we will have to increasingly incorporate a media planning model, to start with audience profile, then work to develop the communications plan. I would appreciate your views.
To view the Fox video, please click here.
Posted by Edelman at October 26, 2007 2:32 PM
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Comments
Hi Richard,
Enjoy your thoughts, just wish I could visit more often. Wanted to clarify that Joni Mitchell of Canada wrote "both sides now" and Judy Collins did the first recording. Joni has done her own too.
Safe travels in Asia.
Bruce,
Toronto
Posted by: Bruce MacLellan at November 1, 2007 2:41 PM