Some people and brands took the day off yesterday. They didn't fill their social media timelines with promotional material. Instead, many opted to place a black rectangle in their stream as a way to show solidarity with the anti-racist, anti-fascist movement. Of course, many brands had no business wading in these waters. For example: Want to really stand for racial justice? Change your name. …
Media Melt Down, A Sad Saga in Short Repetitive Chapters
The Oracle of Omaha recently warned that newspapers were toast. It's not the kind of thing to take lightly. The Guardian, for one, is not taking it lightly. Here's what it says in their pages: Print advertising revenue has collapsed, down by about 80% since the start of the pandemic. The situation at local newspapers, which rely on small local businesses for ads, and were struggling even before the crisis, is …
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See Only Evil, Or Look in Another Direction
We see what we want to see. We also see the things that the media frames for us. We do not see what we don't want to see and we do not see the things outside the media's dominant frame unless we choose to look. Jon Alsop is a freelance journalist who writes Columbia Journalism Review's newsletter The Media Today. He chooses to look. It’s a cliché that a picture is worth a thousand words. It can be—but when …
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Meat Sheets Go Meta
Steak-umm is frying minds and taking names on Twitter. Not everyone is impressed, but I am. media literacy in the internet age is incredibly difficult to develop. you have to navigate special interest groups, trolls, ads, conspiracies, fake accounts, satire, sensationalism, and beyond, in order to find credible source material and relevant experts buried under the mess — Steak-umm (@steak_umm) April 20, …
When Readers Provide Direct Financial Support, Writers Rejoice
"The function of the press in society is to inform, but its role in society is to make money." - A. J. Liebling Howard Saltz is Knight Innovator-in-Residence in the journalism faculty at Florida International University in Miami. The professor and journalism practitioner thinks it is a serious mistake for newspapers to drop their paywalls in response to COVID-19, or for any other reason. Here's a section of …
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Newsflash: Print Ads Now Guaranteed to Work (Not An April Fool’s Joke)
If you work in media, marketing, or advertising, it's time to innovate and there is no time to waste. That's the message from several directions today, and now we are beginning to see real-world results, as companies adapt to the new constrictions. Sarah Jerde at Adweek reports that The Wall Street Journal and Barron’s Group are now offering clients an additional incentive to advertise in their print pages. …
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Many Media Companies Now Reeling from Sudden Loss of Advertising Revenue
Earlier this year, when the Oracle of Omaha said that newspapers are toast, he wasn't kidding. “They’re going to disappear,” the Oracle said. He didn't know that COVID-9 was about to make a bad situation much worse, but he did know that the industry was hanging by the thinnest of threads. In the United States, we have lost almost 1,800 papers since 2004, including more than 60 dailies and 1,700 weeklies. Today, …
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Alt-Weeklies Are Sinking Quickly to the Bottom of the Dead Newspapers Pile
Alternative weeklies--our city's free arts and entertainment newspapers--are facing untenable marketplace conditions today. The papers rely on advertising revenue from bars, restaurants, movie theaters, and retail stores. Given that all of the above are temporarily closed for business, there is next to no ad revenue coming in the door today. Joshua Benton at NeimanLab paints the situation like …
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