House, hunting

Much to mourn

         There's much to mourn in Texas today with news that Walter Cronkite's suffering from cerebrovascular disease that will take him at any time and word from Los Angeles that Farrah Fawcett has died of cancer.

        Both were legends with deep roots in the Lone Star State.

        New York Post TV critic Linda Stasi's column shared an e-mail from Cronkite's children that sought to clear up all the rumors about the news legend's health: "In order to dispel false rumors, Walter Cronkite's family want it known that, sadly, he is very ill and is not expected to recuperate; he is resting at home surrounded by family, friends and a wonderful medical team. We thank everyone for their prayers and good wishes."

        Cronkite was a native of St. Joseph, Mo., but attended the University of Texas at Austin in the 1930s, working on the staff of The Daily Texan before joining UPI as a reporter. His wire service work took him to bureaus across the state that he embraced in a special way. The Museum of Broadcast Communications site has a good look at Cronkite's life.  

    I don't think he ever lost that edge that great wire service reporters bring to coverage. They're blinding-fast thinkers and writers with an incredible gift for clarity and digging out credible facts. Cronkite had those characteristics. And print reporters, many of whom disparage big-time TV news anchors, held Cronkite in high esteem. He was a newsman's newsman and polished in his graciousness. This is not a good time to lose Walter Cronkite. Or so it would seem. But we yield to a greater Will.

         Then there's the death of Farrah Fawcett -- a gorgeous Corpus Christi native who grew up in an equally gorgeous neighborhood across from Corpus Christi Bay. Her official blog today stated simply and anonymously: "I am sorry to say our Farrah has passed to a better place and left the pain and confines of her bed behind. She is free to be the woman we all knew and loved. So Few have touched so many. You all keep Fighting the Fight."

        I was never much of a fan of hers, but I admired her achievements. My chief attraction to her was concern for her personal life. As the father of three daughters, I worried about Farrah's seeming weakness for men who hurt her. Maybe that was Hollywood hype to win sympathy for her, but I prayed that my daughters would not land on such a path. My heart went out to Farrah every time I'd see yet another story -- no matter whether probably true or probably questionable -- about her tormented love life. I've read that she'd written a note to her dad, saying that she'd had a great life and lots of love.

        I've wondered over the years, as I followed reports about Farrah's life, how some men can poison their families and become so consumed with themselves. It's disgraceful.

        I pray for peace for Farrah Fawcett and for Walter Cronkite. God bless them and their loved ones.

Final confirmation of Portfolio's demise

        In today’s mail was a sort of ultimate confirmation of another death in the publishing world: a simple, black-and-while postcard from Conde Nast Portfolio that began: “Dear Subscriber, With regret, we have decided that we will no longer be publishing Conde Nast Portfolio … .”

        It was old news. The New York Times and other outlets had reported in late April that Portfolio was folding –- unable to earn enough even after it had cut the number of issues from 12 to 10 a year and taken other steps to shed expenses.

        Old news but sad nonetheless. We’ve lost a smart, substantive and beautifully designed business magazine that certainly had its critics, but I admired the staff’s work and was glad to see a mountain of talent focused on the private sector, which gave us the recession that in turn has poisoned many giants in the publishing industry. 

        The postcard explained that subscribers would be getting Wired instead. Great, I thought. I already subscribe to Wired. In that case, the postcard explained, Portfolio will add the copies due to the Wired subscription.

        Small consolation, but I can’t complain. I’ve lost only a few dollars. S.I. Newhouse is looking at the crumbs left from a $100 million investment. And business coverage has shriveled further.

A complicating triangulation

        This "Journalism vs PR" discussion piques "Bill's" curiosity. He raises a couple of issues regarding PR that some PR pros may want to address:

        "I have been involved in the tensions between citizen journalists (bloggers and the like) and traditional journalists but adding a triangulation with Public Relations complicates the picture in a useful way.

        "I would be interested in seeing more extensively how public relations has had to change with rising technology, and whether public relations might have more in common with citizen journalism than traditional professional journalism."

        Floor's open to anyone who'd like to share some thoughts with Bill.  

        (Bill also refers us to OurBlook.com where, he says, "there are some great interviews with journalists about the future of journalism and the changes new developments demand." There also is a compelling article there by PR practitioner Vanessa Horwell on journalism's future. -- David)

Journalism vs PR: The dialog begins

        A couple of PR pros have shared some thoughtful insights into the relationship between journalists and public relations practitioners. Much appreciated. Here are excerpts:

        Dave: As someone working on the PR side, I know there's variety here -- there are PR people who will die on any hill for their employer, and there are PR people who quit on the spot when asked to cross the line, and everything in between.

        I'm sure it's the same way with journalists: most of the journalists that we don't hear about often have probably done an amazing job year in and year out of reporting news that needs to be heard. We hear about a few scattered journalists that cross the line, and there are certainly journalists who have stood strong when asked to make changes they didn't agree with.

        Maybe the problem is that we get stuck on lumping everyone together and assuming that someone who is unhelpful once can never be helpful in the future. If we treat each new story as an opportunity for both sides to meet our goals, we'll probably go farther.

        (A significant and frequent problem emerges when the public sector forgets that it's not the private sector and operates with eroded commitment to public service. That's a common complication in coverage of government on the local, state and federal levels, and it's one reason why open records and open meeting laws exist. See this Dallas Morning News blog for a great example. -- David)

 

        Richie: I think what seemed to ruffle the feathers of some in attendance was what has come to be seen as the typical broad-stroked summation from journalists that PR people block the news gathering process. This is simply not the case, at least not always. Are there PR people who do a horrible job for their organizations or clients. Yep. But the same is true in any industry.

        It is true that for public information officers or communications directors sometimes we have to get to the information tucked away inside government agencies. We know journalists would prefer to speak directly with the internal expert and source and in most cases this is our preference, too. However, there are times when we cannot provide information for privacy, personnel protection, and other various legal reasons. It is highly frustrating when these actions are then turned around and interpreted as obfuscation when our hands are simply tied.

Maybe it would have been better for these panelists to give examples and wishes of how to make the relationship better for both sides than to slam a profession.

        (The federal government has shuttered many windows via, for instance, the Patriot Act and HIPPA, setting excessive boundaries on secrecy that state and local governments have embraced. One consequence is further strain on the relationship between journalists and pr practitioners whose hands are tied by law and who are subjected unfairly to criticism. More on this later. -- David)

        What do you think? More thoughts, please.

Journalism vs PR: Head-knockin' issues

        Last week’s PRSA luncheon featuring a panel of owner/publishers and editors of local weekly newspapers ended with attendees chewing on some hot issues that have long confounded relations between journalists and public relations practitioners.

        It's far too complicated a situation to explore in one blog post, but there are some main underpinnings that can be capsuled and discussed later.

        Except perhaps in the sports and entertainment fantasylands, journalists and public relations practitioners generally are not buddies. They are colleagues in the communications industry. They enjoy First Amendment privileges but with divergent, sometimes conflicting, aims. They partner now and then on matters of public urgency and humanitarian causes. They may respect each other's expertise, enterprise and influence, but they share an unsettled relationship. They harbor suspicions of each other’s motives and abilities.

        Journalists’ chief loyalty is, or should be, to the public’s right to know and to dispense news and information that’s fair, accurate and balanced (their test in court that they don’t always pass). Public relations practitioners’ chief loyalty is to their employer and/or their client and the right to create information that serves the employer’s and/or client’s priorities.

        One group claims to be objectively adversarial and seeks transparency, particularly from the public sector. The other embraces advocacy and markets angles tailored for self-serving ends -- sometimes cleanly with high standards and ethical practices observed and sometimes by hook-or-crook use of false facts, and not just in political campaigns.

        Those are certainly arguable generalities from a journalist’s point of view, but I base them on years of being on the receiving end of p.r. initiatives at newspapers around the U.S. and a stint long ago on the other side of the fence in p.r. land. And they are views shared by many journalists, including panelists Lee Newquist, publisher of the Fort Worth Weekly, and Blake Ovard, managing editor of The Star Group weeklies.

        When asked at the luncheon how public relations practitioners could be of the most value to them, they didn’t mince words. They want to talk with key sources, they said, not spokespersons. They want p.r. people to facilitate newsgathering, not undermine it, block it or act as agents of obfuscation.

        “I’m from an old school,” Newquist said, “where p.r. companies, at least on the journalism side of what we do, are problematic because they’re in between (us and) the person with the real answer.”

        One of his examples was related to a recent cover story by staffer Jeff Prince who profiled  American Airlines’ current conditions.

        “Our reporter was snooping around,” Newquist said. “I get a call from a p.r. person at an agency (working for the airline): What do you guys want to know? What’s the angle of the story? I don’t want to talk to a p.r. person. I want the president of American Airlines or an employee to call us back.

        “I don’t want to talk to a p.r. person whose sole role in their career is to spin it and make it sound good. We want to talk to the main source about a particular story. … I didn’t want to talk to the p.r. company. American Airlines has a hundred p.r. people. We wanted to talk with them,” he said, adding that ultimately AA execs, including corporate spokeswoman Missy Latham, spoke with Prince.

        Ovard said he meant no offense but was equally blunt: “All of the cities have a PIO, and their job is to keep you from getting the story, so they don’t understand why I don’t want to talk to them. They say, ‘Well, I have all your information.’”

        Marc Flake, Tarrant County PIO, took issue with those views, noting how he had facilitated the Weekly’s requests for a recent cover story by Peter Gorman that examined issues related to the medical examiner’s office.

        “I was very helpful with Mr. Gorman,” Flake said, “and told him who he needed to talk to, gave him background, gave him all the documents (and) contract information he needed. I don’t stay between you guys (and county sources). I help you get the information you need.”

        PRSA members applauded Flake’s clarifications and defense of p.r. practice. Newquist acknowledged with appreciation Flake’s assistance in the newsgathering process. “This gentleman was very helpful … kudos.” Flake’s work, he added, was a model of what journalists value: “Talk to us. … don’t stand in our way.”

        Newquist noted that while elected officials such as Sen. Wendy Davis will talk with the Weekly, Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief will not. “He’s a public servant who will not talk to the Fort Worth Weekly. I have a problem with that.”

        Flake’s comments drew a tip of the hat from Ovard as well: “That’s exactly the PIO stuff we need. Too many people view their job as blocking the information.”

        All of this reminds me of a p.r. ad I saw in Advertising Age back in the late '70s. I loved its message then and I love it now. It was crunched into a headline: "When all else fails, tell the truth." Hot damn. Bull's-eye. As married people know, or should know, that's some of the best advice humans can get, particularly journalists and public relations practitioners.

        What do you think? The floor’s open …

Many are called, but ...

        While I’m waiting on some information for a blog post about some healthy conflict at last week’s GFW PRSA luncheon, I thought I’d share an interesting tidbit about blogdom from a June 5 New York Times story by Douglas Quenqua:

        “According to a 2008 survey by Technorati, which runs a search engine for blogs, only 7.4 million out of the 133 million blogs the company tracks had been updated in the past 120 days. That translates to 95 percent of blogs being essentially abandoned, left to lie fallow on the Web, where they become public remnants of a dream — or at least an ambition — unfulfilled.”

        Looks as though a lot of folks have discovered a painful reality that journalists live with every day: Like writing, blogging’s not a snap. It’s a time-consuming, demanding craft.

        Easy to dream about. Hard to make happen.

Local weeklies: Small but living large

        Roadkill may be a prettier sight than daily newspapers’ bottom line these days.

        Same could be said about weeklies in some parts of the U.S., according to reports from the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism.

        But weeklies in and around Fort Worth tell a different story.

        They’re alive, thriving and energizing their communities, according to a panel of publishers and editors from four of those papers who recently sketched their robust performance for members of the Greater Fort Worth Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America during their June meeting at the Petroleum Club. 

         Sharing insights into local weekly newspapering were Lucie Allen, publisher/editor of the Spanish-language Panorama News; Lee Newquist, publisher of the Fort Worth Weekly; Blake Ovard, managing editor of The Star Group Newspapers, and Kay Pirtle, editor of the Wedgwood News.

        Keys to their strength, they said, are intense and exclusive focus on local news that their readers care about, deep involvement in their communities and close listening to locals’ concerns while maintaining high levels of professionalism that are essential for credibility.

        And they presented impressive bottom-line results that reflect reader loyalty as well as finely targeted news products.

        Panorama’s circulation is 15,000 weekly with readership of 60,000, Allen said, and serves many second-generation Hispanic-Americans. The 46-year-old Wedgwood News has expanded to include Ridglea and Cityview areas, Pirtle said, and is serving 30,000 readers, many of whom are third-generation readers.

        The Fort Worth Weekly is solidly staffed (the crew includes two Pulitzer Prize-winning staffers), Newquist said. All revenue flows strictly from advertising. Everyone’s passionate about readers and freedom to write what they want. “We’re not accountable to some higher power that tells us what stories to write,” he said.

        The Star Group –- with weeklies in Alvarado, Burleson, Crowley, Everman, Joshua, Keene, Southlake and South Tarrant -– grew nearly 16 percent last year, Ovard said, as residential developments increased population. New residents wanted their local paper, he said -– a strength, he added, that drove ’08 performance at many of MediaNews’ community papers, referring to The Star Group’s owner, the fourth largest newspaper group in the U.S.

         I know, I know, this is supposed to be a blog post, not a news story, so, for those with challenged attention spans, here are a few brief excerpts from other points the panelists emphasized:

        Pirtle: “We’re resilient because we grew up with the area we serve. I know exactly who gets the papers.”

        Newquist: “We’re doing very well. Our paper’s very strong. ... The model is: Put your readers first. … My job is to get readers and advertisers to meet one another. … We’ve had no reductions in staff. Scaling back is the biggest mistake in journalism right now. People should be doing more and tackling more issues in their communities. We have a wide-open door to tackle important local issues. … We do good journalism. We’re not afraid. We’ve been called ‘punk rag’ (and criticized for running) adult advertising, but look who’s standing.”

        Allen: “Our readers are a population that we like to get involved with. We’re at graduations, we serve on committees, we hold marketing seminars. We’re serving family and friends. That’s how we find out what’s on their minds. … There were 30,000 (Hispanic) babies born here last year. They’ll look to us to maintain a contact with their country of origin -- their culture there. That will always keep our readers looking to us for that sort of information.”

        Ovard: “We know where we fit in the community. We constantly get feedback (which helps tailor the news package to fit). We care about what everybody says. … Newspapers are never going away (because they’re the best source for local news). … Everything online comes from reporters going out and doing their job. Our business model is bright.”

        Indeed.

Cultural ignorance invites trouble

        Journalists must often write about cultures they don’t understand. And their ignorance can cost their credibility dearly if and when they don't do their homework and that ignorance lands in the newspaper. The risk can increase in white-dominated news operations with key editors whose grasp of other cultures is minimal.

        An example occurred just a few days ago when the Daily Oklahoman ran an editorial cartoon that clearly displayed ignorance of the cultures that make up Latin America. 

      The cartoon, by Creators Syndicate cartoonist Chip Bok, presented Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor as a piñata strung up on a tree. As the media’s cameras capture the moment, President Obama, wearing a sombrero, asks three Republican elephants wielding big sticks: “Now, who wants to be first?” The caption reads: “Fiesta time at the confirmation hearing.”

        As an editor told me once after an idea of mine flopped: "Nothing fails like a great idea that doesn't work." That applies to editorial cartoons, too. As much as I love and applaud editorial cartoonists' gift for lampooning political developments, I can't support this cartoon or the editors at the syndicate and the Oklahoman who let it get past them. It would be interesting to know whether some newspapers rejected the cartoon because of the culturally inaccurate characterizations. If you know of any, please let me know.

        Aside from the troubling stereotypes stirred up (such as minorities and lynchings, abuse of wome, racism, sexism), the concern here is that Mexican culture is applied to conflict involving Sotomayor who’s Puerto Rican. As Dallas News editor Bruce Tomaso notes: “The cultural imagery … doesn't make any sense. Both the sombrero and the piñata are Mexican in origin. Mexicans are no more Puerto Rican than, well, Oklahomans are Texans.”

        The Daily Oklahoman and Creators didn’t know that? Surely they do now. The cartoon drew criticism from many directions, including Jean Warner, the chair of the Oklahoma Women's Coalition, who said: "A picture speaks louder than words and that cartoon sends a message to women of all ages: 'Back off. Know your place. Or we'll take a stick to you and teach you a lesson.'"

         According to hispanicbusiness.com, Bok told Oklahoma TV station KOCO: "Since she emphasized her Latina-ness and played it up as a virtue, I thought, 'Well, how about a fiesta and a pinata?'" he said. "This is a Mexican thing, but again, we're dealing with stereotypes. That's all kind of the joke, I thought."

            No, no, no. Wrong, wrong, wrong. This is not about “a Mexican thing.” This is about ignorance of Latin America and the vast diversity in the cultures that comprise Latin America -– a reality that, sadly, many North Americans do not understand and evidenced so well by this controversial cartoon.

        Mexicans are not Puerto Ricans. Not all Mexicans are alike just as not all Americans are alike. Learn cultures, journalists, and avoid stereotypes. A metro news outlet that lives in a world so small that none of that registers is asking to be stereotyped in return -- as a crude redneck doofus.