Message from Michael -- Google vs Facebook - November 17, 2010

Message From Michael                                 

                                                                                                                        November 17, 2010                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

      THE GIANT GOOGLE FACEBOOK FACE-OFF

      IN MY MIND I’M GOING TO CAROLINA

      CURSE YOU, RED BARON

      COCKTAIL CHATTER – 1 AND 2

 

 

      THE GIANT GOOGLE FACEBOOK FACE-OFF:  So, every techie from India to Indiana has written about Facebook’s’ new messaging system, and normally that means we don’t want to rehash old news on the Message, but this is just way too important to ignore.  However, we will try and keep it brief and, maybe even, add a little perspective.  For starters, even though it was called the “G-Mail killer” in its development stage, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg is careful to call it messaging, not e-mail.  The Facebook system integrates private messages, text chats, all your SMS and, yes, e-mail, in one place, with the history of all your communication.  What G-Mail calls message threads.  And, oh, yes, there is no subject line in the communication.  The ‘subject’ is the conversation.  Yeah, I’m still trying to wrap my brain around that one.  Anyway, some numbers:  As we all know, Facebook has more than 500 Million users.  Google’s G-Mail has 170 Million users.  And MySpace (remember them?) has 140 Million users.  Lost in the Facebook announcement brouhaha is AOL’s announcement that it has upgraded its messaging service (notice, not just e-mail) to integrate all your e-mail from all your accounts into one, with the addition of multi-media.  The last numbers I could find for AOL e-mail users was 37 Million.  It should also be noted that Google did try something similar, bringing all of the email, messaging, documents, etc., under one umbrella.  It was called Google Wave and it crashed onto the shore of reality.  In the same reality vein, it should be noted that Gartner Research says social networking is rapidly overtaking e-mail as the number one activity on the Internet.  Of course, Facebook says its new messaging system is sort of a social networking-messaging kind of thing.  A background note on this rivalry between the two Internet giants.  Not long before the Facebook announcement, Google started blocking other services from importing email contact info, unless it was reciprocal.  At this point, Facebook is introducing its new messaging service through invitation.  And, yes, I have filed an invitation request.

      IN MY MIND I’M GOING TO CAROLINA:  Apparently Google and Facebook agree on something – James Taylor’s love of Carolina.  Both companies (along with Apple) have built, or are building, massive data centers in western North Carolina.  The key word in all this is – massive.  Facebook reports that it gets more than 100 Million new photos every day and ‘shares’ more than 30 Billion pieces of content every month.  Google-owned YouTube reports that it gets a staggering 35 HOURS of video uploaded every MINUTE.  As a report in Marketing Vox noted, that’s the equivalent of 176-thousand full-length Hollywood releases every week.  Or put in even more startling terms, if the three major broadcast networks broadcast 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year every year for the last 60 years, they still wouldn’t have broadcast as much content as is uploaded to YouTube every month.  (You have to love that factoid.)  As Media Post writer-reporter Erik Sass (who is one of the few online writers worth following) notes, the sheer size of the Facebook facility is testimony to the impact of social media.  Facebook’s two facilities will cover more than 607-thousand square feet.  Overall, he reports, the number of servers in the U.S. has increased from 2.6 Million in 1997, to 5.6 Million in 2003, to 11.8 Million in 2007, to 17 Million in 2009.  Do you see a pattern there?  Another great factoid:  All the data centers in the U.S.A. consume  more than 5,000 Megawatts of power every year at a cost of $18.5 Billion – “enough to power five million homes, the same amount consumed by the state of Mississippi.”   

Further Factoids:  YouTube has crossed the Rubicon of online subscriptions – One Billion, according to a blog post by its marketing manager George Haddad.  As reported by WebPro News, the channel that took YouTube over the Billion mark was MachinimaSports which, when I checked it, only gets a few thousand views per video, but apparently has a lot of sports videos.  The WebPro News report noted that there are actually 15 sites that have more than a Million subscribers, including some that you may be familiar with from previous Messages (realannoyingorange, fred, smosh, collegehumor, failblog) and some you may not (nigahiga, kassemg, sxephil, kevjumba.)  Meanwhile, comScore’s VideoMetrix report says that all Google sites (which is mainly YouTube) scored more than Two Billion video views and more than 146 Billion unique visitors last month.  Yahoo took second place with 233 Million views and nearly 54 Million viewers, followed by Viacom Digital (176 Million views and 53 Million viewers); relative newcomer Vevo (236 Million views and 47 Million viewers); and then Facebook (162 Million views and 47 Million viewers.)

      CURSE YOU, RED BARON:  Apparently Snoopy wouldn’t fit in today’s modern media world with his circumscribed lamentations about his fearless foe.  The Parents Television Council says that the use of profanities has increased by two thirds (69.3%) in the last five years, but even more troubling, they say, is the type of profanity used which they describe as ‘harsher.’  In a report with the overly-cutesy title of “habitat for profanity,” the council calls the ruling earlier this year by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals on ‘fleeting expletives’ a “castration (their word) of the FCC’s powers of enforcement.”  Interestingly, the report says the worst offender was the plaintiff in the case – Fox where the use of profanity nearly tripled (269% to 292%) in the five year period.  The other networks were dramatically lower.  The report says the biggest increase in the use of profanities came in the so-called ‘family hour’ of 8 p.m., followed by 9 p.m.  For example, the report says instances of the F-word being used but bleeped in the 8 p.m. hour increases 1,010%, from 10 in 2005 to 111 in 2010.  Use of euphemisms for the F-word increased 160%, from 5 in 2005 to 13 in 2010.  In the 9 p.m. hour, use of the bleeped F-word jumped 15,500%, from just once, according to the report, in 2005 to 156 times in 2010.  Euphemisms for the word in 9 p.m. only increased 10% from 10 in 2005 to 11 in 2010.

      COCKTAIL CHATTER #1:  China recently announced that its Supercomputer, the Tianhe 1, is the world’s fastest, but MIT’s Technology Review says that is only technically true.  Let me see if I can explain this.  You see, in tech talk, computer speed is measured in FLOPS (Floating point OPerations per Second) – what you and I would call…. Calculations.  The Tianhe 1 achieved the incredible speed of 2.57 petaflops.  A peta is 10 to the 15^th power.  Or put in simpler terms – more than a Quadrillion calculations a second.  The Tech Review article says that while the Chinese computer can reach that speed, it can’t sustain that speed because of the kind of processors and graphics it uses. And that is why it’s only technically correct.  On top of that, a group of scientists who maintain a website tracking the world’s fastest supercomputers says there are five other supercomputers coming online in the upcoming year that will beat the Tianhe 1, including ones at the University of Illinois and at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory.  Yes, there really is a site that just tracks the world’s supercomputers.  It’s unimaginatively called top500.org.  On the other end of the technology scale, there really is a website called Treehugger, and it reports that a firm in Austria has built the world’s tallest office building of… wood.  The 30-story high-rise tower in Dornbin does have a skeleton post and beam construction including timber and concrete, but the rest is a laminated wood product.   

      COCKTAIL CHATTER #2: The longest running comedy in television history is getting longer. Fox has renewed The Simpsons for a 23^rd season, which you probably already know, but the reason it’s in cocktail chatter is that one television observer noted that the extension means that Bart Simpson will be 33 years old… technically speaking.  And more from the MIPCOM “global entertainment content industry” conference which attracted 12,400 people from 100 countries. Russia’s Red Media Group has acquired the Food Networks’ Fresh with Anna Olson and Cinemax’s Forbidden Science, which for those unfamiliar with it (like me) is about “a world in which people fulfill erotic desires with androids.”  Russia’s First HDTV picked up Motorhead Traveler in which a guy travels around the world; MxCulture, a ‘behind the scenes’ look at the sport of Motocross; and Sledsense, a snowmobile sports adventure show.  The MIPCOM summary report noted that a lot of the focus was on emerging markets.  For example, Cineflex International reported business “from China to Chile” for its Nazi hunter series.  Lastly, on the television front, a San Diego County Superior Court judge, DeAnn Salcido, who ran what was described as a “colorful courtroom” apparently in hopes of becoming a judge on a reality TV show, has resigned after a judicial panel cited 39 instances of misconduct on the bench.

      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 Michael@MediaConsultant.tv with the word “subscribe-MM” in the subject line.  If you wish to stop receiving this newsletter, e-mail Michael@MediaConsultant.tv with the word “unsubscribe-MM” in the subject line. Also, back issues of MfM are available at the website, media-consultant.blogspot.com.  You can reach me directly at Michael@MediaConsultant.tv.

 

Message from Michael - News Source Use - November 10, 2010

Message From Michael                                 

                                                                                                                        November 10, 2010                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

      IF YOU TORTURE THE NUMBERS LONG ENOUGH

      NEWSPAPERS VERSUS TELEVISION

      NEW HAMPSHIRE ON MY MIND

      THE FACEBOOK WITCHING HOUR

      IF I WERE A RICH MAN

 

 

      IF YOU TORTURE THE NUMBERS LONG ENOUGH:  As the saying goes, they will admit to anything.  That phrase comes to mind after reading the 247WallSt./ Harris Interactive poll on news and media consumption.  The release by Harris Interactive argues that “traditional media is in trouble.”  The release by 24/7 Wall St goes even further, declaring that the conventional wisdom that “the print industry is dead” is correct.  I was even tempted to resurrect an old satiric headline – STTYWYAK (Stee-We-Ak) – which stands for Studies That Tell You What You Already Know.  But the numbers don’t quite support those conclusions.    While nearly half (43%) say the day of the printed newspaper is gone, four-fifths (81%) say that, while newspapers will continue to decline, there will always be a need for newspapers.  More than half (55%) either ‘strongly agree’ or ‘somewhat agree’ that traditional media as we know it will no longer exist in ten years; But two thirds (67%) say they prefer to get their news in more traditional ways, through either television, newspapers or magazines.  Before you say, ‘ah, yes, Michael, but the younger people…” Well, no, it isn’t significantly different for them.  A few more (47% of the 18-34 demographic versus 43% of the general online population) say the day of the printed newspaper is gone; Only slightly less (76% versus 81%) of the 18-34 year olds say there will always be a need for newspapers in print.  But only slightly fewer (51% versus 55%) of the 18 to 34 year olds believe traditional media will no longer exist in ten years.  (By the way, aren’t you glad I didn’t use the Mark Twain quote that reports of my death are greatly exaggerated, which is so over-used, for the headline.)

It is significant that fewer (57% versus 67%) of the younger demo say they prefer to get their news in more traditional ways.  That becomes even more significant when you look at the question about getting “almost all my news online.” Two thirds (65%) of the younger demographic say that’s true of them while only half (50%) of the general online population say that’s true of them.  But then again, when asked how often they go to different news sources when looking for news, the number one choice is….. local television news, with three-quarters (76%) of the general online population saying they go to local TV ‘all the time’ or ‘occasionally’ and two-thirds ( 63%) of the 18-34 demographic picking local TV.  Local newspapers came in second in BOTH groups, with two thirds of the general population picking newspapers and more than half (56%) of the 18 to 34 year olds.  Very interestingly (to me at least) “websites that aggregate different news sources” came in fifth for both groups (49% for overall and 52% for 18-34.)

OBSERVATIONS: None of this diminishes the basic point of the report about the changes in media consumption habits.  If anything it validates (in my mind, at least) the point made in a previously reported Pew News Consumption study that much of the younger people’s news consumption comes through grazing.  They seem to ‘stumble’ on to news rather than specifically looking for news.  I say that because of the way the question is worded:  “when you are looking for news, how often do you go to each of these news sources.”  That may explain why news aggregation sites came in fifth.  It should also be noted that when asked about the amount of time spent on the various media, consistently more than half say it has not changed.  Visiting online news and information sites did indeed show the greatest increase for the overall population(28%); Interestingly enough, that was roughly the same for the 18-34 year olds (29%).  Actually it was the 35-44 demographic that showed the greatest increase in online news usage (34%).  That same demographic also had the highest percentage (59%) going to news aggregation sites. 

Lastly, a disclaimer: The Harris poll relies on an online panel of people who have agreed to take these surveys.  That may explain why, when you read the fine print (known as the methodology) Harris Interactive says they avoid the words “margin of error” because, they say, all surveys and polls are subject to multiple sources of error which are hard to quantify.  Or, as one of the leading researchers here at the Grady College of Journalism put it, that just means in today’s technological environment, the results are still basically a SWAG – Scientific Wild Assed Guess.           

      NEWSPAPERS VERSUS TELEVISION:  Somewhat related to the above article, I give you two sets of numbers.  Numbers recently released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations show the circulation for the top 25 newspapers continues to drop.  Only one newspaper, the Wall Street Journal, showed an increase and it was a meager one – 1.82%.  With a circulation of 2,061,142, it is the nation’s most popular newspaper, ahead of USA Today with 1,830,594 (down 3.66%) and The New York Times which had a circulation of 876,638 (down 5.52%).  By way of comparison, and yes it’s probably unfair, for the week of October 25, NBC’s nightly news cast averaged 8.06 Million viewers, ABC had 7.4 Million and CBS had 5.5 Million.  In any case, back to the newspaper top ten list, it’s Los Angeles Times (600K), The Washington Post (545K), New York Daily News (512K), New York Post (501K), Chicago Tribune (441K), the Houston Chronicle (344K) and The Philadelphia Inquirer (342K).

      THE FACEBOOK WITCHING HOUR:  According to a report by social media management firm Vitrue, the best time to post on Facebook is 3 p.m. on Wednesday.  Seriously.  Of course it’s a little more complicated than that.  After analyzing two months of Facebook traffic, including 1.6 Million posts and 7.6 Million comments, the researchers say there are three peak periods during the day:  11 a.m., 3p.m., and 8 p.m. EST.  And let me emphasize, that’s during the work day.  The authors speculate that the 3 p.m. activity is a combination of factors, including lunch time on the west coast, break time on the east coast, and kids coming home from school.  In a similar vein, 11 a.m. could be a combination of the start of the work day on the west coast and the break before lunch on the east coast. Then, for whatever reason, on Wednesday, there are more interactions than any other day of the week. It just beats Tuesday (by 7%) and Thursday (11%).  Weekends, not too surprisingly, are the lowest.  The report makes an important distinction between posts and comments.  For example, Monday is actually the biggest day for postings (286,000) followed by Tuesday (252K), Wednesday (248K), Thursday (234K) and Friday (230K).  Sunday came in next (203K), with Saturday last (184K).  But people were in a more ‘talkative’ mood on Wednesday, which had the most comments (1.528 Million), followed by Tuesday(1.414 M), Thursday (1.371 M), Friday (1.322 M) and Monday (1.214 M).  Oddly, Saturday generated more comments (841 K) than Sunday (799 K).  The report titled Facebook Management makes the point that the combination of posting, commenting, liking and sharing is part of a two-way conversation and that it’s all about engagement.  In case you have any questions about the importance of Facebook use, the report quotes the Alexa research group which says Facebook reaches a third (35%) of all Internet users on any given day with the average user spending 55 minutes a day on the social networking site.             

      NEW HAMPSHIRE ON MY MIND:  The “granite state” has the distinction of having the highest Internet penetration in the United States with nine out of ten residents (90.1%) having Internet connection.  That is only slightly higher than the other top five: New Jersey (87.8%), Utah (87.6%), Connecticut (86.5%) and Massachusetts (86.2%).  According to Internet World Stats, the U.S. average is 77.3% and that is three times the average for the rest of the world (26.5%). Facebook use in the U.S. is seven times (43%) the rest of the world (5.9%).  Less than half of the 1.2 Million New Hampshirites are on Facebook (44.5%), although that is slightly higher than the U.S. average.  The state with the lowest Internet penetration is Mississippi (59.3%), although oddly that doesn’t translate into the lowest Facebook penetration (30.3%).  That distinction goes to West Virginia (28.7%) even though it has a much higher Internet penetration (70.5%).  Not surprisingly, as America’s most populous state, California had the highest number of Internet users (29.8 Million) although its Internet penetration rate was only slightly above average (79.7%).  The second most populous state, Texas, had the second highest number of Internet users (17.2 Million) although its Internet penetration was well below average (68.6%).  And just to keep the world balance to my message, Advertising Age reports that there were 384 Million Chinese online in 2009, up 29% from 2008; and 223 Million mobile Internet users.  Writer Abbey Klaasen notes that for every Internet service in the U.S., there is a Chinese equivalent.  For Facebook, it’s RenRen and Kaixin; for Foursquare it’s Jiapang; for Twitter, it’s Sina’s Weibo; for Zynga’s Farmville, it’s  Kaixin’s Happy Farm.  And as mentioned in a previous message, the Chinese instant messaging service is QQ which was created by the growing Internet firm, Tencent.

      IF I WERE A RICH MAN:  No, no, it’s not Tevye, and I don’t know if he has to work hard, but Rush Limbaugh is the top money maker amongst political pundits, according to Newsweek and a research firm called Wealth X, pulling in $58.7 Million.  Eat your heart out, Katie Couric.  Far back in second place is Glenn Beck with a mere $33 Million, followed by Sean Hannity ($22M), Bill O’Reilly ($20 M), Jon Stewart ($15 M), Sarah Palin ($14 M), Don Imus ($11 M), Bill Clinton ($7.7M), Keith Olbermann ($7.5 M) and at number ten, Rudy Giuliani ($7 M).  Stewart cohort Stephen Colbert tied at #13 with $5 Million.  The rest are the ‘usual suspects’ –Bill Maher ($4 M), Joe Scarborough ($3.5 M), Bob Woodward ($2.5 M).  I shouldn’t probably admit this, but there were quite a few Millionaire pundits I didn’t recognize, including: Jorge Ramos, the Mexican news anchor for Noticiero Univision, although there is another news anchor for Telemundo, New York with the same name; Fareed Zakaria, who hosts CNN’s foreign affairs show and is Editor-at-Large of Time magazine; Bob Barnett who I suspect is the Washington lawyer and political strategist and not the wrestler; and Eduardo “Piolin” Sotelo, a Mexican radio personality who hosts a morning radio talk show in Los Angeles. 

      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 Michael@MediaConsultant.tv with the word “subscribe-MM” in the subject line.  If you wish to stop receiving this newsletter, e-mail Michael@MediaConsultant.tv with the word “unsubscribe-MM” in the subject line. Also, back issues of MfM are available at the website, media-consultant.blogspot.com.  You can reach me directly at Michael@MediaConsultant.tv.

 

Message From Michael - October 27, 2010

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Message from Michael - Citizen Journalism - October 20, 2010

Message From Michael                                 

                                                                                    October 20, 2010    

                                                                                                                                                                       

      HOW DO I MEASURE THEE

      OLD PEOPLE GOT NO REASON

      ADMIRABLE JOURNALISTS

      ADMIRABLE MEDIA MAVENS

      FREEDOM OF SPEECH WEEK

 

 

      HOW DO I MEASURE THEE:  With apologies to Elizabeth Barrett Browning, mainstream media measures thee to the depth, breadth and height your business can reach.  But if you’re the Knight Foundation and you’re measuring the effectiveness of citizen news sites, the measurement is based on… stealing some more lines from dear Elizabeth… “to the level of everyday’s quiet need… with a passion put to use.”  (Whew, is that a change from my usual Rock and Roll headlines or what?) According to a recent, and semi-candid, self analysis of its efforts to launch citizen journalism sites through its “New Voices” grants program, J-Lab Executive Director Jan Schaffer argues that the more accepted measures -- revenue raised or unique visitors reached -- just don’t work in measuring the impact of the 46 projects funded since 2005.  Very simply, Schaffer and her co-authors say, “community news sites are not a business yet.”  Or put in more grant-ese language, “there is a mismatch between instilling sustainable civic demand for local news information and developing sustainable economic models.”  And the other revelation that will surprise no-one, “rarely did they (the new voices sites) replace coverage that had vanished from legacy news outlets, or even aspire to (do so.)”  But, they argue, that is not say they haven’t been success.  It all depends on how you measure success. When the United States Postal Service changes where they place mailboxes on a busy road, after New Voices website Hartsville Today in South Carolina reports on the problems, that’s success.  When the Chappaqua, New York, school board changes the school schedule, after New Voices website NewCastleNow.org raises questions, that’s success. 

All that may sound like excuses, when you consider NewCastleNow only has 3,000 subscribers and only 60,000 unique visitors in a year. The authors say that many of the New Voices sites consider 1,000 unique visitors a month “just fine for their small communities.”  Or it may seem an excuse when you consider that the $833,000 in New Voice grants over those five years has only translated into $1.44 Million in either new grants, or donations or ad revenue among the 46 sites.  That becomes even more questionable when you consider that three sites accounted for $952,000 of that amount, meaning the other sites averaged between $2,100 and $2,600.  For some perspective, the Knight Foundation grant was for a ‘massive’ (yes, I’m being sarcastic) $12,000 in the first year and $5,000 in the second year.  Last year the amount skyrocketed (yes, more sarcasm), to $17,000 and $8,000.  Humorously, if you like black humor, Schaffer argues that the “micro-funding” is actually a good thing because it teaches them to deal with skeleton resources. Meanwhile, the report notes that the sites are competing against some of the mega-operations such as the Patch series of hyper-local news sites backed by AOL.

The report does contain a series of recommendations, including the point that technology is both a curse and a blessing.  A curse when site operators get wrapped up, trying to use high-end tech stuff such as Drupal for their websites instead of open-source software.  A blessing when they make use of Search Engine Optimization and the “game changing” social media.  Several of the sites found that social networking increased their outreach enormously, with some sites even using social networks as their primary means of distribution.  Also, even though nearly half of the sites had university connections, the university sites were “steeped in peril.”  Primarily, because the academic calendar just doesn’t work for such sites.  They have to be year-round.  Added to that was the fact that university requirements often “deprived (the sites) of the nimbleness they needed.”  To counter this, they recommend universities “create entrepreneurial centers for community outreach and engagement that can circumnavigate the red tape.”  The report also notes that legacy media aren’t much better because they have not proven to be the partners that many such website entrepreneurs hoped.  The report warns that youth media, such as high school students, should not be relied upon, but instead should be supplementary or ‘tertiary.’  More critical, they say, it is imperative to have a core of writers that you can rely on, because “citizen journalism is a high churn, high touch enterprise.”  Many of the site founders told of training dozens, and in some cases, hundreds of people, only to have them leave after a short time.  Which brings us to one of the two most important take-aways and, maybe, determinants of success (in my humble opinion.)  One is that such sites are driven by people with a passion for what they do, and these people must remain deeply involved in the sites to make them successful.  Second is that people visiting such sites aren’t just looking for news; they’re looking for connections… a connection to their community, which too often has been run by an established heirarchy. Hence, the point made by the Browning poem: everyday needs and passion.

FOOTNOTE:  Or maybe it’s a side note, but regardless, one of the other factors playing into this are the so-called ‘content farms’ that generate ‘content’ to wrap around advertising to make it more acceptable.  Yes, this has been the subject of previous messages, but more media observers are picking up on this trend.  The latest, Mike Shields, of MediaWeek, notes that Demand Media, one of the larger ‘custom content’ or ‘custom publishing’ enterprises (as they prefer to be called) ranks 17^th in Web traffic with 59 Million unique users, according to figures supplied by comScore.      

      OLD PEOPLE GOT NO REASON:  To use email, or to use Facebook, or to use SMS, or to use any of the so-called new media tools.  But they do, says a survey by the Pew Internet and American Life project.  It says the numbers have doubled or tripled over the last year.  One in five adults (20%) between the ages of 50 and 64 use social networking sites on a typical day.  A year ago, it was one in ten (10%).  One in seven adults (13%) over 65 use social networking sites on a typical day.  A year ago, it was one third that (4%).  Somewhat amazing (to me at least), one in ten (11%) of ONLINE (important distinction) adults age 50 to 64 use Twitter; And one in twenty (5) of ONLINE (again, important distinction) adults over 65 use Twitter.

FOOTNOTE:  Baby Boomers represent 25% of the population, but they consume 40% of the technology, according to a report by Nielsen.  An article in Advertising Age cities Nielsen, the Pew report and even a group called the Grandparent Marketing Group as further evidence of the misconceptions surrounding older people and technology. Forrester Research says that the 46 to 64 year old group actually spends more on technology than any other demographic.

      ADMIRABLE JOURNALISTS:  There aren’t any.  How’s that for a blunt response?  According to the Pew Research Center for People and the Press, more than half (52%) of Americans could not (or would not) name a journalist or newsperson they most admire.  The study authors say that is proof of the fragmented news environment, because that percentage has increased steadily since they started doing the survey.  Three years ago, significantly less than half (42%) were unable to name someone.  And they note that now cable news people are mentioned as often as network news people.  Topping the list this year was Diane Sawyer, but as further indication of the erosion, only five percent named her.  She was followed by Katie Couric (4%).  Then it’s Bill O’Reilly and Glen Beck (3%), followed by Brian Williams and Anderson Cooper (2%).  The low numbers and the slight difference are such that they are not statistically significant.

      ADMIRABLE MEDIA MAVENS:  There’s a dozen of them, according to AdWeek, and in sharp contrast to the journalists, most of them are about half the age of the news people cited by the Pew Study.  And most of them… no, probably all of them, you’ve never heard of.  Yet, one could also argue that, with their focus on the digital world, they may also be more impactful.  AdWeek staff writers say this is their youngest class of Media All-Star” winners.  The executive of the year is 46-year-old Phil Cowdell, CEO of MindShare North America.  The “rising star” this year is Beth Doyle, who is associate director for innovations for Vivaki, part of Publicis Groupe – the world’s second largest media agency and the world’s fourth largest communications group.  Most of the group appear to be in their 30’s, and most of the group (my observation) seem to have built their careers based on digital use, and research.     

      WORTH NOTING:  This week (October 18 – 24) is National Freedom of Speech Week, and while the official website (yes, there is an official website) notes that there are scores of causes that have weeks or months named after them, freedom of speech should be especially noted because it is “the language of America.”  In an earlier message, we also noted the celebrity studded website, 1forall.us, which is dedicated to reminding people of the importance of The First Amendment.  Another belated note:  The end of last month (September 25 – October 2) was Banned Book Week and yes, there is an official website for it as well.  And, in an interesting (some might say bizarre) twist on the banned book situation, the federal government, in effect, censored a book by the simple expedient of buying every one of the books published.  The government bought the entire first run of the book, Operation Dark Heart, by Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Shaffer, about intelligence operations in Afghanistan.  The publisher, St. Martin’s Press, then ‘recycled’ all those copies ‘at the government’s request.’  A revised second edition, with changes ‘suggested’ by the Department of Defense, will be published.         

      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 Michael@MediaConsultant.tv with the word “subscribe-MM” in the subject line.  If you wish to stop receiving this newsletter, e-mail Michael@MediaConsultant.tv with the word “unsubscribe-MM” in the subject line. Also, back issues of MfM are available at the website, media-consultant.blogspot.com.  You can reach me directly at Michael@MediaConsultant.tv.