Conflicts of Interest

My favorite technology writer is David Pogue of the New York Times. He brings a personality and depth of knowledge to his work that surpasses anything else I read. (Plus, my kids know every word to his "I got an iPhone" ditty.)
But he's becoming a brand all his own, which leads people to raise questions about conflicts of interest. Those questions hit the page of the public editor today.
What do you think? In an age when information is so fragmented and people have to innovate and expand to build revenue streams, how do we avoid conflicts of interest? Can we? Is the appearance of a conflict as bad as a conflict itself? What if Pogue weren't writing about tech and instead, say, politics? Would it be OK for him to put out books on different people?

Medicine and statistics

A new post from a 202er:

Hi Prof. Culver,

My dad emailed me this article a few weeks ago. It was in the New York Times so you might have already read it (you seem to have the all-seeing eye of mass media). I thought it would pique your interest as it covers both the ideas of interpreting numbers and statistics but also the medical world and studies. My dad was particularly thrilled because as a doctor he said he rarely finds medical articles that are both factually significant but also would make sense to a regular person. I wasn't sure if it was blog worthy because we've sort of moved on from interpreting data but I thought you might like to read it anyway.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/30/health/30stud.html?_r=1&ei=5070&emc=eta1&oref=slogin

Is the online model turning around?

Looks like what's bad for Wall Street was good for online news traffic.

Cool lead

A 202-er sends the following:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/14legiswe.html?_r=1&ei=5070&emc=eta1&oref=slogin

as a sample of an inviting lead. Thanks for sending!

Strat Comm, Journalism and the War in Iraq

Excellent investigative piece in Sunday's New York Times. It covers the Pentagon's efforts to sway public opinion by using military analysts as TV commentators.
This certainly says something about the administration's strategic communication efforts. Are they ethical? But it also says something about our journalism. Are those practices ethical?

Keeping track of consumers online

Look at this story on how online behavior is monitored.
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A new analysis of online consumer data shows that large Web companies are learning more about people than ever from what they search for and do on the Internet, gathering clues about the tastes and preferences of a typical user several hundred times a month.

These companies use that information to predict what content and advertisements people most likely want to see. They can charge steep prices for carefully tailored ads because of their high response rates.

The analysis, conducted for The New York Times by the research firm comScore, provides what advertising executives say is the first broad estimate of the amount of consumer data that is transmitted to Internet companies.
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What are the ethics of this kind of monitoring? Government needs special clearance to peep on citizens (though this is far more arguable after the Patriot Act). Does it matter that it's industry watching your activities, not government? And if so, how? Does it matter that you leave a trail when you use, say, gmail?

McCain and the New York Times

It looks like the McCain campaign may be spoinlin' for a fight with the New York Times over an article posted online last night, covering his record on ethics choices.
What are the media ethics ramifications of this? To get you started, read this perspective from the Poynter Institute.

Is it copying or is it not?

Hey Katy,
An interesting blog topic regarding plagarism in speeches...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/19/us/politics/19campaign.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1203437157-zYC6qCDhBwxaXX/8/VFJSw

http://badgerherald.com/news/2008/02/19/obama_catches_flak_f.php

NYT job cuts

Another post from a 202er ...

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Hi Katy,

I saw this article today on the NY Times about the newspaper cutting about 100 jobs in the newsroom.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/15/business/media/15times.html

It's another case in the last week of changes in the newspaper business.

Have a good weekend,

NIU Shootings

As raw as the events are, I'd like you to think about the Northern Illinois mass shootings and the media implications.
Check out news organizations:
- Chicago Tribune
- Washington Post
- New York Times
- CNN
just to name a few. How are they handling the coverage? What's the level of sensitivity? Of information? Are you getting insights? Or repeats of the same information? How are they handling the questions of mental health? Of victims' stories? What writing has resonated most with you? What images? What things shouldn't have appeared?

Then I want you to look at the strat comm angles. I know this seems odd, but this is a story that was handled by PR people, the university communications staff at NIU. Go to their Web site and look at the information. Did they provide enough info and do it quickly enough? Look at some of the info updates earlier on. I found them interesting because they didn't just update and replace info. Instead, they used strikethrough to show what info had been updated or replaced. Watch the press conferences and examine those interactions. What role did public relations play in this tragedy and was it done ethically and effectively?

What's Your Candidate?

Great blog addition from a 202er this morning:
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Hi Katy,

I found this story through the NY Times and it reminded me a lot about today's lecture and the several Mac vs. PC examples we heard today. I thought you might find it interesting how these technologies are becoming representations for entire genres, demographics, styles, etc. and how one writer used them to contrast Obama and Clinton in this article.
_________
What do you think? Do the styles of the two platforms fit the styles of the two candidates? And then what would John McCain and Mike Huckabee be? We've talked about branding in marketing. How are the candidates brands faring in your opinion?

Super Bowl Ads

So we didn't have much time to chat yesterday about the advertising bonanza that is the Super Bowl. Which ads did you like? Which did you hate? Which do you think have the greatest effect? And what about the Richard Simmons spot ... was it insensitive?
More on ads. It's Super Tuesday. What are you reading about candidates' ads? I'm getting a lot of that kind of traffic on Facebook, especially notes about this piece in support of Obama. Curious how this is playing with your generation.

Pakistan in Turmoil

Received this note from a 202er this morning:

Obviously you'll have gotten this link too or have read about this by now, but for formality's sake: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/28/world/asia/28pakistan.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

What's the deal with Pakistan? With all the crap surrounding Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan it seems like Pakistan has kind of flown under the radar for our nation's media (and possibly rightly so considering what we have invested in the other countries). I don't know much about Pakistan and how it fits into Middle East equation, but I remember reading about it for the 202 quiz questions when Bhutto arrived and the martial law imposed by Musharraf. It sounds like Pakistan is very unstable and might have revolutionary leanings given the controversy and dynamic there coupled with the death of this popular opposition leader. I unfortunately and unbearably don't have cable at home at my parents', so do you know of any good books or articles to get me up to speed on Pakistan? This country just keeps sounding more and more interesting and I can't see it not playing a big role the Middle East vs. United States Armageddon that's brewing.

Hope your break is going well,
~Al

Here are some story links that might help with background. You're welcome to use comments to add your own.
TIME magazine had a pretty good piece before Thanksgiving when the touchy deal between Bhutto and Musharraf went to hell
Bhutto herself had an op-ed in the Washington Post in that same time, gives a bit of background and shows her political strengths
The Post's roundup of Pakistan stories is comprehensive. I especially liked the image galleries when the lawyers erupted in protest.
Of all the pieces I read in the last three months or so, Newsweek's cover stands out the most. The lead is downright chilling, given today's events.
Hope that helps!

MySpace Suicide update

The New York Times has an interpretive take on the MySpace suicide case we discussed last month. And they chose to name the mother who contributed to the bullying.

AP Update

I spoke with some of you about changes coming to the Associated Press and the idea of centralized editing. Here's a follow-up story.

Interactive and Advertising

OK, I'm putting this post up at my own risk, knowing that by the time you follow the link, the digital ad will likely have changed ... but here it goes.
Apple did a digital media buy on the front page of the NYT online today. It features a sidebar ad that interacts with a banner across the top below the masthead.
We all know I'm a cardinal among the Mac faithful, but I'd like to know what you think of this ad creatively and strategically. Does it make sense visually? Would you ever play it to get the interaction to work? Does it motivate you to buy? Do you think you're part of their target? Does digital make sense here? Does a buy with the Times make sense?
And I'll pull my soapbox out one final time this semester. If you're in strat comm and not thinking about digital, you are missing the biggest boat in the ocean right now.

Fat and the Farm Bill

Here's a suggested post from a 202er. I would STRONGLY encourage you to familiarize yourselves with this issue. It's going to be getting a lot of media attention. Took a long time to start bubbling, but now it will boil.

Katy,
I'm not sure if anyone's still reading the blog now that the quizzes are over, but on the chance that they are, it might be good to mention the Farm Bill 2007 that's currently going through the senate. The legislation is extremely important, and, unfortunately, it hasn't gotten much attention (at least that I've seen) besides a few op-eds (and an upcoming documentary called King Corn). Ultimately, the Farm Bill is the reason corn syrup is in everything we eat, and part of the reason Africa loses two dollars to trade deficit for every dollar in aid it receives. Billions and billions of dollars of subsidies go to massive agri-business corporations (I think 75 percent of the subsidies go to 3 companies), and it affects everything: nutrition, local farming,
the environment (that shipping costs money) and global poverty. It doesn't seem like a very interesting topic, but it has a huge impact, and people should know about it (especially since this is a very agricultural state). Here are a couple of those op-eds:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/15/opinion/15kleckner.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/22/AR2007102201656.html

plus a NYT magazine feature a while back:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/22/magazine/22wwlnlede.t.html

Kid Creates Apple Ad

Lots of buzz in the marketing world these days regarding consumer-generated content. The theory is something like open-source in the computer world: the more people you let in on the creative process, the more likely you are to get new ideas and great advertising.
The problem is that you also get lots of dreck. Katy and the Culver kids tried creating an ad for Dove and while my 4-year-old looks darned cute, it isn't exactly something that would move a lot of soap.
So this week, Apple went live with a revamped version of an idea generated by an English student. I'm a fan. What about you? Think this is the future of advertising, consumers creating messages?
Note that this is also an "old media" story. The kid stuck his original on YouTube in mid-September and by mid-October, he had 2,000 hits. The New York Times put it in Stuart Elliott's column (on an inside page, mind you) and in less than 12 hours, the spot went to 20,000 hits. It's now at about 340,000.
Pieces like this often need the support of the (gasp) the "mainstream media." Now, if entities like the NYT can just figure out a way to make money off that hit-generating...

Colbert a la Dowd

From a 202er:

Katy,

I urge you in the strongest possible terms to put this article on the course blog -
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/opinion/14dowd.html?_r=1&n=Top/Opinion/Editorials%20and%20Op-Ed/Op-Ed/Columnists/Maureen%20Dowd&oref=slogin

If you haven't read it, it's Colbert's guest column (for Maureen Dowd) from Sunday's NYTimes. It's brilliant - especially if you read the op-ed columns enough to understand his Frank Rich joke, for example.

Quotable

We'll be talking about interviews next week in lecture. To prepare, check out this piece on the wildly successful Q&A feature in the New York Times magazine and liberties taken with questions and answers. And listen to this audio file of a story from NPR's "On the Media" show (available through the J202 podcast on Learn@UW).
Should we edit people's words? Are "ums, likes and you knows" different from more substantive words? Is it different in audio than in text?