March 13th, 2006

Message From Michael
March 13, 2006

• CONSUMER TECHNOLOGY AND DOING GOOD


• DEVELOPMENTS IN STUDENT TELEVISION


• BILLIONS AND BILLIONS OF GOOGLES


• MEDIA MUSINGS: ELEVATOR TV AND AL JAZERRA


• COCKTAIL CHATTER: WEBSITES WEIRD AND WONDERFUL


• KICKER: DOGS VERSUS DADS

• CONSUMER TECHNOLOGY AND DOING GOOD: Pop Star Peter Gabriel has co-founded a website called witness.org which he says is a ‘viewer advocacy’ development. It helps people to film human rights violations so that “the world can see what’s really going on.” New York Times technology writer David Pogue said it was so “cool and important” that he focused on it in a recent on-line article and it was so interesting that I decided it was worth repeating. The group has supplied 200 camcorders to human rights groups in 60 countries. When you visit the site, you will see a story about torture and displacement in northern Uganda. The site banner says, “see it… film it… change it.”


• INTERNATIONAL MEDIA: As long as we’re on an international bent… Rolling Stone has launched a mainland China version of its pop culture magazine with an initial print run of 120,000 selling out in days. The inaugural issue had articles about U2 frontman Bono, the influence of rock music on ending the cold war, with a front cover about Chinese rock pioneer Cui Jian, (No, I haven’t heard of him either.) Editor in Chief Hao Fang wrote in the initial issue “from today onward, let us summon our readers so that we may in the East also create a miracle worthy of this era.” The article on ABC News noted this is the 11th international version of the magazine.Famous, or in-famous depending on your point of view, Arab language network Al Jazeera is set to launch an International version of its channel in May, and while Westerners are worried about the controversy it will generate, employees are worried it won’t be controversial enough. Interestingly the Al Jazeera journalists are banned from speaking publicly, but an article by Hannah Allam of Knight Ridder newspapers quotes long-time employees who say they are afraid the international edition will be a watered-down version of what they had built up “with their blood, sweat and tears for 10 years.” The employees note few of the journalists and not enough of the managers are Arab. British managing director Nigel Parsons is quoted as saying the International version will build on Al Jazeera’s heritage “and bring their brand of fearless journalism to a wider audience.”


• DEVELOPMENTS IN STUDENT TELEVISION: Students remember the advertisements better than they do the news stories on Channel One, the daily ‘public affairs’ program shown in 12,000 U.S. schools. Researchers surveyed 7th and 8th graders in a school in Washington state. The students remember 3.5 ads, according to the study, compared to 2.7 news stories. However, they don’t remember much of either with only 13% ‘retaining’ the news stories during a week and 11% ‘retaining’ the ads. Students at Boston University have created a “riches-to-rags” comedy pilot called Roller Palace in collaboration with MSN. The program will air online March 20th on MTVU. Professors at the University of Minnesota have turned the fantasy game Neverwinter Nights into a tool for journalism students. Instead of slaying monsters and gathering gold, the players gather information and tackle sources, according to an article carried by the Associated Press. Game designer Matt Taylor and Journalism professor Kathleen Hansen have modified the game graphics to create a town where there is a train accident spilling toxic chemicals and players have to dig up the information.


• BILLIONS AND BILLIONS OF GOOGLES: Executives with Google have set an immodest goal of $100 Billion in worldwide revenue. Keep in mind that total worldwide advertising market is ‘only’ $800 Billion. In an article in the Times of London, Chief Executive Eric Schmidt is quoted as saying they plan to get into every segment of the media market from television and radio to print and direct marketing. The company presently has annual revenues of $6 Billion and is worth $100 Billion on the stock market. Competing giant Yahoo! meanwhile says it is backing away from its original plan to create a lot of original content. The head of the company’s media group, Lloyd Braun, says that instead they will focus on content acquired from other media companies or submitted by users.Meanwhile, you’ve no doubt already heard that the Associated Press has launched its own Video Online Network, using MSN video. The ad-supported service will allow the 4,000 AP newspaper and broadcast members to offer breaking news video content. You probably heard about their launch video. It was the video of President Bush being warned about Katrina a day before the disaster hit.


• THE MESSAGE IS THE MEDIA: At least it is for Microsoft and several other Fortune 500 companies when it comes to “free media coverage.” Research firm Delahaye, a unit of the Bacon’s research group, does an analysis in which it registers the number of impressions a company generates in the media, how many of those are negative and positive, and from that, determines a corporate reputation index. Microsoft with nearly 53 BILLION impressions in print and electronic media ended up with a corporate reputation index of 1,592.4. Others on the top ten list Disney, Verizon, Intel, Boeing, Goldman Sachs, Time Warner. Two semi-surprises were Wal-Mart which actually came in #2 with an index of 1,229.4 based on nearly 42 Billion impressions and GM which came in #9 with an 528.9 based on more than 46 Billion impressions. Delahaye director Matthew Merlin says Wal-Mart managed to overcome the negatives about dominating local communities and costing jobs by ‘acknowledging the negative feedback,’ advertising on local television about how it supports local communities and through its quick response to the Katrina tragedy. GM managed to “stop the flow of negative news by delivering the message of stability.”


• COCKTAIL CHATTER: For this week’s edition, I decided to share a series of unusual or different websites that you might find interesting. Want some help writing and reporting? Try newscollege.ca (That’s right - ca, not com. It’s Canadian.) Website author Gregg McLachlan has put together a compendium of tips and ideas to help you become better reporters and writers. McLachlan is associate managing editor of a daily newspaper in Ontario and writes a weekly newsletter titled The Write Way. Looking for an old CD you can’t find anywhere? Try lala.com. It is a website where, for $1, you can trade your Elton John CD for a Barry Manilow CD, or whatever. The four guys who created the website say copyright laws don’t prohibit trading and, in fact, they discourage pirating and donate 20% of the proceeds to musicians. Complaint about a business? Try buzzophone.com. Website creator Matt Galloway runs a service where you dial an 800-number, rant or rave about a business or service. Galloway selects the ‘best’ and posts them as podcasts. Galloway says it’s his way of proving that through CGM (Consumer Generated Media) the consumer is in control, not the marketer. What if you’re one of those marketers? Try marketingexperiments.com. The website, a division of Digital Trust Inc., has a simple premise – “to discover what really works.” You can subscribe at the website to its monthly newsletter and delve into its research archives. Or if you are looking for a little entertainment with an edge, try productinvasion.com. Created by the Writers Guild of America/ West, the site provides a parody of product placement gone wild in programs. But the best part is the “subservient Donald” which is a variation of the ‘subservient chicken’ website, except in this case it is Donald Trump who will do whatever you command him to do. Okay, one last one. All you fans of The Simpsons television show will want to visit this website: http://youtube.com/watch?v=49IDp76kjPw. It is the opening sequence of the show, but using real life actors instead of animation. Okay, a kicker I couldn’t ignore. According to Pew Research, 85% of dog owners consider their pet a member of the family while 78% of cat owners feel the same way. But what makes it interesting, say the researchers, is that dog and cat owners describe their relationship with their pets as ‘close’ rather than ‘distant’ -- closer even than their relationship with ‘real’ family members. The Pew folks say a comparison shows the ‘family intimacy standings’ as: dog 94%, mom 87%, cat 84%, dad 74%.


• SUBSCRIPTIONS: We encourage people to pass on copies of Message from Michael. But if you would like to get your own copy, you can subscribe by sending an e-mail to newsconsultant@aol.com with the word “subscribe-MM” in the subject line. If you wish to stop receiving this newsletter, e-mail newsconsultant@aol.com with the word “unsubscribe-MM” in the subject line. Also, back issues of MfM from 2006 are available at the website, media-consultant.blogspot.com.