Queen Arianna Speaks. (I Always Listen.)

Of course, every time I hear/see/read Arianna in HuffPo, YouTube, MSM, a blog, wherever (she is everywhere of course)… I always gotta wonder, since those Cox suits love to issue memos and internal emails in which they invariably declare that they’re going to rule the digital environs, AJC 2.0 and other such proclamations, then when are we going to see/hear/read their ideas and imprimatur in the blogosphere?

Funny, I’ve yet to even see even the tiniest little wee blog comment attributed to a Cox suit. Anywhere! Maybe I’m missing something, but since that’s doubtful, I hope they don’t find the digital environs completely dominated by e-mavens and mavericks such as Ms. Huffington when they DO choose to make their grand e-presence known.

more about “Queen Arianna Speak. I Always Listen!“, posted with vodpod

Just How Bad IS Local News?

It’s this bad… WSB-TV couldn’t even get the name right of this school they featured in this video. It’s E. Rivers, not East Rivers as the title and the VO declare. Yeah well, everyone makes mistakes, right? That’s true, and most sensible media outlets immediately correct them too.

Thing is, this particular school, E. RIVERS, is less than 2-miles, right up Peachtree Street, from WSB-TV, and has been there longer than their own brick-n-mortar station(s), which was established in 1948. (E. Rivers has been there since 1917.) Historical slack-butts populate local TV news stations. Pity.

Big TV Turning Gray

The average age of a TV network viewer is now 50. From Variety:

The broadcast networks have grown older than ever — if they were a person, they wouldn’t even be a part of TV’s target demo anymore.

According to a study released by Magna Global’s Steve Sternberg, the five broadcast nets’ average live median age (in other words, not including delayed DVR viewing) was 50 last season. That’s the oldest ever since Sternberg started analyzing median age more than a decade ago — and the first time the nets’ median age was outside of the vaunted 18-49 demo.

Fueling the graying of the networks: the rapid aging of ABC, NBC and Fox. The three nets continue to grow older, while CBS — the oldest-skewing network — has remained fairly steady.

“The median ages of the broadcast networks keep rising, as traditional television is no longer necessarily the first screen for the younger set,” Sternberg wrote.

Full story here.

Bob Barr Rips FISA and its Supporters

Since Obama just sold-out on FISA, a frightening piece of legislation that sends chills down my spine, you can bet I’m taking a strong, hard look at Bob Barr. And look, he can operate a computer too. Heck, dude’s on Twitter, has a uStream.tv channel, etc. All the best social media bells and whistles.

more about “Bob Barr Rips FISA and its Supporters“, posted with vodpod

Is It Really A Surprise?

McCain doesn’t know the price of a gallon of gas. Ahhhh those mavericks. I’m sure he used to know the price of gas. Used to drive his own car. But he’s now living totally detached from the people he wishes to govern.

It happens to ‘em all though. I hear Obama’s people are keeping him away from the roving, snarly press packs. (Meaning they will allow press access only to a favored few.) Bad things always happen to leaders when they become isolated and removed from America. Cases in point, Bush’s NOLA/Katrina fly-over (a Rove decision no doubt). The “You’re doing a heck of a job, Brownie” moment. Pity really.

While I fully understand the needs of candidate high security in this terrorist-laden world of ours, if McCain could just access the Internet, he could find out in one or two clicks what the price of gas is in whatever town he’s in. Avoid those out-of-touch answers to softball questions, that line of simplistic questioning that can tank a candidate in the media. Too bad he can’t operate a computer.

NOTE: I addressed this whole Leaders-Who-Can’t-Operate-A-Computer media/PR issue right after Katrina in September of 2005 on the Spacey Gracey Review. And it’s gonna keep biting candidates in the ass until they walk into a local Starbucks (frenzied press pack in tow), order a latte, sit down, fire-up a laptop, and start blogging. At least just power-up their personal laptop and click-on something! Anything. That one photo op along would signal to a very in-touch voter-base… “I’m connected too. I’m in touch too. Just like you.”

Experience The Magic

Bless This Transition

Why is it so easy to instantly forget the humanity that exists within an entire industry? Newspapers in this case. Hell, in cyberspace it’s easy to forget just about anything we used to be tactilely associated with.

Standing within six feet of three Pulitzer Prize winners in Journalism, at a party (I crashed) to honor Hank Klibanoff’s departure from the AJC (Klibanoff himself a Pulitzer winner for the book The Race Beat) an unexpected wave of sober, strong admiration for the people who are going to now face the end of their industry as we all knew it came upon me. It dawned on me that these people will face the end of an era, the end of their industry, with strength and dignity and humor, and a respect for their colleagues in a way that will humble us all.

I Twittered some during the party and took a few of those grainy indoor iPhone snaps. But I really wish I had live-streamed; the toasts and the roasts were good, but mostly, folk out here in the swirl of the Internet’s crashing vastness need to witness the humanity of which I so glibly, and merely, blog about.

This post put together by Cat Stevens’ Teaser and The Firecat.

Hard Times At Cox Plantation

The things that appear in the Mostly Media tip jar. My, my, my. These are indeed hard times for many. Today, a memo(s) from upper management to staff at the AJC:

Folks,

You may have heard today that one of our sister papers in Cox, The Palm Beach Post, announced a voluntary separation program that will reduce its workforce significantly. Because a move like this is sure to raise questions here, I wanted to communicate directly to you and to pass along a note that Sandy Schwartz, president of Cox Newspapers, sent to all Cox publishers today.

First, let me say this: All Cox newspapers are carefully assessing their own markets and business models and will be taking the actions necessary to remain financially sound. We have been doing this work for the past two years and will continue. As we have said, we have three primary objectives this year:

Stabilize our print business
Grow our digital business
Reduce costs overall

Work on all three of these fronts is progressing. Our AJC 2.0 efforts are in final prototyping stages. Our digital traffic continues to climb, and this week, we begin overarching digital strategy work. We have made significant cost reductions, but as I said in a recent General Management Meeting, we have more to do this year.

The economic factors affecting our business have worsened. The recession, the housing market downturn, as well as soaring newsprint and fuel costs have increased the urgency to reduce expenses. We will do so aggressively and in ways that make most sense for our market, our readers and our advertisers.

Let me also assure you that we will continue to innovate, inform and engage — and we will remain the leading source of news and information for metro Atlanta.

God Speaks

Cute how He used CNN’s iReport to do it, eh?! In all reality, here’s one of THE gen-u-ine creators of the Interwebs, Vint Cerf, now “Chief Internet Evangalist” for Google. (Is that really a surprise?)

Cerf spoke at the recent Personal Democracy Forum about what the Internet was created to do, why we should encourage global broadband usage, and how the energy crisis will be dealt with using the Internet.

more about “God Speaks“, posted with vodpod

“John McCain is Aware of the Internet”

“From Personal Democracy Forum 2008: During the internet campaign directors’ plenary, Mark Soohoo of the McCain campaign and Tracy Russo of the Edwards campaign argued about how important it was for the next president to understand the internet.” (Ed. note: “Steel Ovaries” Russo kicks Soohoo’s ass every which way to Sunday.)

more about ““John McCain is Aware of the Internet”“, posted with vodpod

About Last Night Party Pics

more about “About Last Night Party Pics“, posted with vodpod

Arianna Schedules New Media Domination Appointment

Could it be Drive ‘Ole Dixie Down, Part Deux? Arianna Huffington has moved on Chicago’s local readership. If that is the case, you can bet she’s got Atlanta in her scope too. If so, all local bloggers, citizen journalists, small publishers and small papers, indie and alt media of any kind, will be swallowed-up whole. And your best sources of user-generated (free) content will be the first to go over to the Huff Side. Let alone your best writers. From media consultant John Wilper’s blog:

It’s scary, or it damn well should be. Unlike Craig’s List, she’s telling us in advance that she’s coming (to Chicago), how and when (not where yet, but I wouldn’t wait to find out!).

With her clout and visibility, she may succeed at the aggregation game where others have failed or are struggling. She plans to grab YOUR content and the best local bloggers and citizen journalists — something we should have done long ago. (It’s not too late, but it’s ALMOST too late.)

And she won’t be blowing large amounts of investor money, either. One editor. One reporter. That’s it.

But add all the current and future local bloggers who will be attracted by the opportunity to have the address of: “HuffingtonPost/my name,” and she’ll have critical mass in one hell of a hurry. And those people will be buzzing about HuffPost’s local site rather than your newspaper and its website.

Full blog post here. What are you going to do to keep YOUR Georgia-based eyeballs off the Huffington New Media Plantation? Better come up with some kinda plan. Quick. Aggregate something! Anything! In other words, have you hugged a blogger real nice-like today? Gawd, I can’t wait to see the Huffster put a serious audience hurtin’ on Cox Plantation here. Now that’ my idea of new media spectator sport.

Anyone think I’m messing around… just keep saying those two words that have fatally stricken the most powerful publishers on the planet – Craig’s List. Craig’s List. Craig’s List.

Jewel Of The South

A PR professional in Chicago was lamenting, on his blog just yesterday, about how politicians and journalists and PR types never got together anymore to just “hang out.” Chicago must not have a party master with a little black book the likes of longtime Atlanta PR pro, Tom Houck’s.

Along with the Atlanta Press Club, Houck hosted a happy hour on the stunning rooftop garden lounge of Maxim Prime on Marietta St., across the street from CNN headquarters. When seen from such a perspective, all the many woes Atlanta struggles with daily down below seemed beautifully way off somewhere else.

What was up on last night on the rooftop was a wild mix of journalists, PR, and politicians Chicago would have drooled over. Along with a crush of election year political hopefuls, has-been power players, (former) U.S. Senators, geeks, writers, chefs, musicians, critics, Olympic gold medalists, players, shucksters, jivers, impresarios, models, aging party gals, cable TV pioneers from way back when, the latest batch of interns to oogle, anchors, reporters, crooks, liars, old money, new money, print, TV, radio, hot air talk show blowers, and, of course, media mavens and bloggers.

At one point, the rope line wait for entry was up to half hour long. And still they waited to get in. The party would ebb and flow for a good three hours, until this blogger’s heels started yelling “leave NOW.”

Way to go APC. Looks like you’re back on the very competitive Atlanta social scene map. (As long as you can stay out of that deadly dull Commerce Club.) I made a little video photo stream with you OTP’ers in mind. That’s right here. Enjoy.

The Internets Giveth. And The Internets Taketh Away Too.

Obama has severely dissed those who gave life to his campaign. By selling out on FISA. Don’t be surprised then if “they” seek to turn the tide. The party won’t (can’t really) turn the tide, of course. But the people sure can. They made him; they can destroy him. Yikes all around!

And yeah, this has EVERYTHING to do with Georgia, kiddies. Link and learn. With Obama cuttin’ that ad for John Barrow, well… that was about the sharpest slap in the face to “the netroots” you could possibly have gotten from someone you thought was your, uh, BFF for life.) From Sam Stein, writing for the Huffington Post:

Obama’s decision to embrace a compromise on FISA legislation — a virtual slap in the face to some progressive bloggers demanding no legal immunity for telecommunications companies — was the catalyst of the recent chatter. Other concerns arose days prior when Obama cut an advertisement on behalf of a conservative southern Democrat whose primary challenger was favored by the liberal blogosphere.

But for some progressive activists, the issue is not simply one of policy, but a concern that Obama’s willingness to snub their political wishes is far more endemic.

Read more here.

Amani Talks With Soledad O’Brien About “Black In America” – Part 2

Taking Social Media To The Next Level

Ready to call yourself a social media “expert?” Or hire someone who claims to be? Read this post, from Chris Penn, a blogger of too many accomplishments to list here, first:

In the last blog post, I shared the old-school Japanese martial arts analogy of apprentice, journeyman, and master as it relates to social media. Here’s the quirk in that particular analogy: because social media as a field is new and evolving, there really can’t be any lifelong masters yet. So what’s a social media practitioner to do, and how does one become an expert?

Again, looking to the past to see into the future, there was a practice called musha shugyo, loosely translated as a warrior’s quest. Typically, after a samurai learned everything he could from a teacher, his teacher kicked him out of the school and forced the practitioner to go wandering the countryside, looking for opportunities to test his skills. The practitioner would look for warlords to serve, other schools to spar with, opportunities to put to use the skills he had learned under the tutelage of his teacher.

After the warrior quest ended, the practitioner would have a deep knowledge of their skills, tools, and contexts in which they could be helpful. The insights they gained during their years-long quests would serve to inspire them, and would eventually transform them into masters.

For social media practitioners, that’s more or less where we are. Once we’ve learned the basics of social media – blogging, podcasting, presence networks, etc. – we can pursue a few different options for our future.

Full post here.

Is It Happy Hour Yet?

Atlanta Press Club happy hour mixer tonight. At the hot, hot, hot Maxim Prime on Marietta St. All welcome! 6-9pm. Free, but please register, and get details, here.

Another One Flees Cox Media Plantation!

Lost a Pulitizer winner this time too. Even the lure of new used-car money can’t hold ‘em down on the plantation. From Romenesko:

Memo from Atlanta Journal-Constitution managing editor/news Hank Klibanoff

To: The AJC staff
From: Hank
Date: June 24, 2008

I don’t have an anecdotal lede, a way to foreshadow a suspenseful ending, or some clever device to hook you. I have some news that is difficult to write and best served straight up: I am leaving the paper.

Over the past few months, the feeling that I might want to do something else has grown even more intense. And I kept hearing, from deep in my childhood, words of the man best known for uttering the Golden Rule, Rabbi Hillel, some 2000 years ago. But the Hillel maxim that landed in my mind and would not leave was the third question in the challenging series of three queries Rabbi Hillel asked, questions that exist at the interplay between selfishness and selflessness: “If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, then what am I? And if not now, when?”

Julia Wallace’s response here. Bye bye party at Manuel’s Friday at 7pm. (Great blogger crash-op, eh?!)

Georgia’s On Everyone’s Mind

Between all the chatter about Sam Nunn being on the Obama Veep shortlist and Georgia becoming a serious battleground state, could we, like, gulp, be almost kindasortamaybe hot all of a sudden? Y’all make sure you sweep the dirt in the front yard all nice and smooth this morning, ‘ya hear. Company’s comin’!

Pray Real Hard And Maybe…

And maybe, if we’re lucky, technology will “swallow” fatuous, bullshit reporters at the NYT:

The lesson seems to be this: as long as there is news, people will try to share it. And new technology promises to turn the process into a tide that can swallow us up, good intentions and all.

(FYI, the dude thinks he’s writing about social media. Clueless mf’er.) Full ridiculous handwringing nonsense, about the news of Tim Russert’s death and how it came about, is here.