bio
Eric Starkman is President and founder of New York-based Starkman & Associates.
He worked more than 15 years as a reporter and editor at major newspapers in the U.S. and Canada, including the Wall Street Journal, The Toronto Star, The Montreal Gazette, The Detroit News, as well as American Banker. Prior to launching S&A, he oversaw the corporate communications practices at established agencies in the New York area, including Morgen-Walke Associates. He had worked earlier as a copywriter at W.B. Doner & Co., a Michigan-based advertising agency.
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March 9, 2010 1:36 pm : Comments 000
Much has been written about the changing role and significance of mainstream media and the myriad factors that continue to erode its once-vaunted credibility. Chief among them is, of course, that the field is rife with unethical individuals who fabricate and plagiarize, a trend I wrote about last May when New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd was caught using prose previously published by a blogger (my take here). Since then, at least two other high-profile cases of journalism plagiarism have emerged, as outlined in this column by New York Times columnist Clark Hoyt.
Another major factor for mainstream journalism’s decline is the profession is plagued with failed leaders who, despite their less-than-stellar track records, continue to hold their senior positions. Mainstream journalism is in desperate need of radical visionaries, yet the industry continues to be led by people who are part of the problem rather than a source for the solution. Is there any other business where failure and myopia is so frequently and handsomely rewarded? If ever there was a single industry that illustrates the concept behind The Peter Principle, today’s mainstream media is it.
Marcus Brauchli, the former managing editor of the Wall Street Journal, is a prime example. Under the leadership of Brauchli and other senior editorial leaders, the Journal went into a near-irreversible economic spiral. A very senior Dow Jones executive confessed to me that the company quite possibly would have gone bankrupt had Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. not come to the rescue. As part of the deal, Brauchli retained a degree of “veto” power over anything Murdoch might want to do with the paper, ostensibly to protect the Journal’s editorial integrity and standards. Once the deal closed, however, Brauchli reportedly received a whopping $6.4 million to go away instead. In this market, Brauchli’s payout is sufficient to finance the hiring of at least 10 reasonably experienced reporters.
Brauchli has since been named Executive Editor of The Washington Post, another newspaper that has suffered a significant erosion of prestige, talent, and national influence. The paper is badly in need of an innovative editorial leader to regain the previous glory it once had under the editorial leadership of Benjamin Bradlee in the late sixties through early nineties. Brauchli is no Bradlee; if he is doing anything of note to save that newspaper, it isn’t readily apparent. Indeed, the newspaper’s one known attempt at, ahem, “innovation” — soliciting lobbyists to pay a hefty fee for exclusive meetings with editors and reporters — was the biggest journalism ethics debacle in recent memory. Brauchli claims he wasn’t told of the pay-for-access program, a possible indication of how he’s regarded by the business side of the newspaper.
Stephen J. Adler, who also held senior editorial positions at the Journal before being named editor of BusinessWeek in 2005, is another example of how journalism rewards failure. BusinessWeek, a once grossly underrated magazine that long eschewed gourmet sizzle for solid meat-and-potatoes reporting and analysis, badly stumbled under Adler’s four-year leadership. Under his tenure, the weekly magazine essentially became the Reader’s Digest of American finance, replete with oversized typeface, condensed stories, and bulky photos and graphics that badly reduced the magazine’s news hole. The magazine was on the brink of failure when Bloomberg picked it up for next-to-nothing last fall. Adler resigned shortly after the deal was announced, subsequently moving on to Thomson Reuters where he was named senior vice president and editorial director of its Professional division. Since the sale, BusinessWeek is fast returning to its previously high editorial standards, which is to Bloomberg’s great credit.
The disturbing state of journalism leadership was, ironically, further demonstrated recently at a meeting held by a trade group called the Committee of Concerned Journalists who are “worried about the future of the profession” (I guess non-members belong to the Association of Reporters Who Don’t Give a Damn). As reported by Fox Business News Senior Correspondent Charles Gasparino (Full disclosure: Gasparino is a longtime friend of mine), the high-minded committee last week held a seminar to breast-beat themselves for their failure to warn the public that the U.S financial system was on the brink of collapse.
Hank Paulson, the former Treasury Secretary and CEO of Goldman Sachs in the period leading up to the economic collapse, gave the keynote address. If anyone there could have shed valuable light on the subject, clearly he was the one. However, according to Gasparino, the “concerned” journalistic luminaries on the panel, including Fortune editor Andrew Serwer and New Yorker media writer Ken Auletta, never availed themselves of the opportunity to ask Paulson the tough questions about his own failure to anticipate or prevent the economic collapse.
Hmmm…just a wild guess here, but reporters who don’t act like reporters could have something to do with the professional pickle they collectively find themselves in.
Personally, I don’t buy into this notion that reporters should have been able to predict the financial meltdown. It takes unabashed arrogance for journalists to believe that they are so well-steeped in economics and high finance that they can possibly forewarn the nation of a pending financial collapse. They are on the sidelines, not in the game itself. Most business journalists tend to mime conventional wisdom of the day, which explains why the leaders of Enron, Worldcom, and Tyco were heralded in newspaper and magazine cover stories before those companies blew up. Journalists would serve their audiences best if they reported as many informed perspectives as possible, rather than spew out their too often misinformed and biased opinions about the companies and subjects they supposedly objectively cover. As for the prescience of mainstream journalism about Goldman Sachs and Paulson, check out this fawning profile that Fortune published in 2004.
According to a study by the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism, less than 30 percent of Americans believe what they read in the mainstream media. That’s a fairly sobering statistic, and one that the Committee of Concerned Journalists should be focused on rectifying above anything else. Sadly, absent a real change in the vision, mindset and competencies of the bold-faced names that occupy the upper echelons of the business, mainstream journalism will likely only continue to go downhill.
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January 11, 2010 7:33 pm : Comments 000
There is no retailer I admire or trust more than Nordstrom. My fervent loyalty stems from a favorable experience years ago when a menswear department manager voluntarily refunded the cost of a suit after I complained about premature wear. I had bought the suit a year earlier, didn’t have a receipt, and there was no record of my purchase in the computer. I was so impressed with the store’s sense of accountability, I felt compelled to buy two suits. I have pretty much shopped at Nordstrom exclusively ever since, and now carry the retailer’s loyalty program Visa card. Without question, the goodwill and repeat business generated by that refund far outweigh the latter’s actual dollar cost.
On the service and value front, Charles Schwab is quietly becoming the financial services industry’s closest equivalent to Nordstrom. But they’re not entirely there yet, and founder Charles Schwab would be wise to take a closer look at the customer service playbook of Blake Nordstrom, the CEO who runs the retailer that bears his surname. (While Schwab is no longer CEO, he remains chairman and apparently is active enough in the business to command more than $3 million in annual compensation).
Although I maintain some of my assets with Schwab, I readily admit that I am highly distrustful of the company. Allow me to explain the paradox.
My relationship with Schwab is currently limited to plain vanilla bank products where I’m certain I have virtually no risk (or at least the faith and backing of the U.S. government). I would never buy an investment product from the firm because, unlike what I’ve learned to expect from Nordstrom, I do not trust Charles Schwab to stand with integrity behind the products they push.
In the past few years, Schwab has unloaded some highly dubious products on its customers, including quasi money market funds called Schwab YieldPlus and long-term bonds known as auction rate securities. Schwab faces class actions suits relating to the sale of its money market funds and has been charged with Martin Act Fraud by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo for peddling the auction rate securities. (Important Disclosure: S&A represents an attorney who has a case against Schwab relating to Schwab YieldPlus. That said, the comments in this blog post represent my thoughts and observations and are mine alone).
My outrage and lack of confidence in Schwab is not simply that it sold the money market funds and auction rate securities, but rather its failure to do right by clients who allegedly were misled. While most of Schwab’s competitors have settled with regulators and reimbursed their clients for losses relating to auction rate securities, pass-the-buck Chuck is following the old-school Wall Street strategy of saying the clients were entirely to blame: “Roughly 90% of the clients who invested in (auction rate) securities came to Schwab asking us to locate and make available these investments for them,” Chares Schwab wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed last August, emphasizing his firm “never guaranteed individual success.”
While that may be true, customer service is not simply about written guarantees, Chuck. It’s also about ensuring your customers view you as trustworthy and reliable.
People shop at Nordstrom because they can do so with confidence. If something goes wrong with a purchased product, there’s little if any doubt that the store will do the right thing when you bring the defect to their attention.
In truth, when it comes down to the fundamental principles of effective brand management and customer service, it really doesn’t matter what you are selling. As Donald Porter of British Airways once aptly put it, “Customers don’t expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong.”
So why didn’t Charles Schwab do the right thing with respect to making customers who essentially were sold defective products whole again? Perhaps the lawyers deemed doing so too great a legal risk.
While that stance may have a significant upside in the courtroom, it will not be without a significant downside cost elsewhere. By not stepping up as other firms have done (voluntarily or otherwise) to make allegedly misinformed product purchasers whole again, Charles Schwab will squander immeasurable current and potential client goodwill and badly undermine the impressive work of those responsible for creating Schwab’s Nordstrom-like experience.
In truly world-class organizations, the legal and marketing functions do not operate as separate silos, in good times or crisis, and a measured balance is routinely struck between their sometimes conflicting interests – and for good reason. After all, the only ones to ultimately benefit from letting Legal call all the shots are, well, the attorneys themselves.
Customers have talked, Chuck. Perhaps it is time you started listening.
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January 7, 2010 1:34 pm : Comments 000
Much has been written and speculated about the dire state of the mainstream media, both in terms of its financial condition and declining ethical standards. If you ask me, much of the current financial troubles can be attributed to industry leaders’ death grip on their widely held misperception that citizen bloggers can’t produce good content and that their own reporter’s work is vastly superior simply because they went to j-school.
An egregious example of this misplaced and often smug superiority was evident in this blanket statement made in a Wall Street Journal op-ed by Peter Kann, the former Dow Jones chairman who nearly drove that company to ruin:
“The Internet is not filling news vacuums either. There are hundreds upon hundreds of online sites and blogs that claim to provide news, but virtually none of them even pretend to pursue the traditional news role of newspapers, which is to invest in professional staffs dispersed around a community and across the country or the globe to cover, analyze, and only then comment on, events. Actually, all they do is comment.”
Yes, the Internet is indeed filled with wanna-be journalists and mischievous trolls who simply publish trite pablum or grossly reckless commentaries simply for the sake of getting noticed or causing a stir. But mainstream publications produce more than their share of irresponsible drivel as well, such as this “investigative” article published in the San Francisco Chronicle or this doozy published in the Orange County Register.
The American public clearly isn’t impressed with the content produced by mainstream media: According to a September Pew Research survey, just 29% of Americans say that news organizations generally get the facts straight, while 63% say that news stories are often inaccurate. But hey, even Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters like Kann apparently don’t have to let the facts get in the way of a good argument.
In truth, many of today’s bloggers are increasingly establishing themselves as authoritative sources of news and commentary in a variety of industries. Blogging is not a mere trend; its advent has proven to be a significant mile marker in the evolution of mass communication. Any organization that believes otherwise is deluding itself. Brett Snyder, who pens the “The Cranky Flier,” airline industry blog, best personifies the new breed of blogger who most threaten the survival of mainstream journalism.
I’ve closely followed Snyder’s work for the past two years. A former industry insider and self-professed “airline dork,” he is wise to the industry’s shenanigans and isn’t afraid to call them on it. Brett’s readers also are remarkably well-informed and civil in their comments on his observations. If you want to understand the airline business, “Cranky” is truly a must-read.
As for Kann’s dismissive claim that all bloggers do is comment, sometimes informed commentary is decidedly more valuable and insightful than the original “reporting” trumpeted by Kann. To wit, Snyder’s initial post regarding the crash of the Air France flight from Brazil stood in stark contrast to the speculative reporting of mainstream reporters. He derided the “million different theories” he had seen about what happened, cautioned readers that “none of the theories that keep being flung out there by the media seem to make sense on their own,” and forewarned that the true cause of the crash may never be known. By comparison, among the speculative stories published by the Wall Street Journal were this one, this one, and this one. More than six months later, we still do not know what really happened.
Unlike a lot of mainstream reporters, Snyder isn’t above admitting he might have been wrong, as he recently did in a post discussing Virgin America’s announcement that it posted an operating profit (as he put it himself, he’s “been a harsh skeptic of the viability of Virgin America since the beginning”). When is the last time you can recall a mainstream publication openly admitting without public pressure or the threat of a lawsuit that it may have gotten something wrong?
Snyder tells me that not one mainstream publication has ever approached him about a job. Given that he lives in suburban Los Angeles, which is heavily impacted by the airline industry, you might expect the Los Angeles Times or Orange County Register would be fighting to scoop him up, but therein lies the judgment of the leadership of mainstream publications. Hmm… is it any wonder the owner of the Orange County Register in September filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Blogging about airlines may be his passion but, like everyone else, Snyder needs to make ends meet. To that end, he recently launched Cranky Concierge, an airline planning and travel problem-solving service that I wholeheartedly endorse. Snyder recently figured out a way for me to fly business class from New York to San Francisco on my preferred flights for less than $250. Trust me: the guy knows his way around the system. And if anyone can solve your air travel dilemma, it’s him.
A tip of my hat to you, Cranky. Dork or not, it’s conscientious bloggers like you that should have the mainstream media now reaching for the overhead oxygen masks…
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January 6, 2010 1:42 pm : Comments 000
When I first joined The Detroit News after working for several years as a business reporter at major Canadian newspapers, I was completely taken aback by the comparably low level of editorial concern and legal oversight given to any of my highly critical stories about private individuals. As it was considerably easier to sue for libel in Canada, I had grown rather accustomed to my hard-hitting stories about business executives being subjected to Talmudic scrutiny by a bevy of seasoned editors and legal counselors. At The News, however, my investigative reports pretty much sailed through the copy desk as I had written them.
I suspect the unusually high number of ex-pat Canadians at major U.S. print and broadcast outlets probably has as much to do with the strong caliber of Canadian journalists’ rigorous training as it does with simple geography. Fear of being sued is a tremendous motivator to practice responsible and diligent journalism, and the extra miles Canadian reporters must often go to get their stories published undoubtedly helps ensure that media debacles such as the reckless maligning of innocent individuals like Richard Jewell and Dr. Steven Hatfill happen with a lot less frequency north of the border. Indeed, in Canada even former prime ministers can successfully sue for libel.
But that’s about to change – and not for the better. Sadly, the Supreme Court of Canada recently decided to dismantle some of the safeguards built into libel laws by allowing journalists to cite “responsible communication” as a defense in libel suits. The Court ruled that Canadian journalists can avoid liability if they were “diligent” when trying to verify the allegations. Under that standard, the reporters responsible for destroying the lives of Mr. Jewell and Dr. Hatfill couldn’t be held liable under Canadian law.
In theory, a vigorous and aggressive independent press is healthy for a functioning free society. I agree - in theory. Practice is another matter altogether. Truth be told, the mainstream American media has become a business controlled by profit-driven companies seeking to bolster their bottom lines and staffed by reporters focused more on promoting their brands than pursuing justice, revealing truth, and upholding the profession’s historic role as the Fourth Estate.
Oh, Canada….you’ve truly picked the wrong standard to benchmark.
New York Times reporter Alex Berenson is representative of the moral compass of journalists who remain in the profession: Having orchestrated a highly dubious scheme to gain access to court-sealed documents relating to the controversial antipsychotic drug Zyprexa, Mr. Berenson then balked about publishing a story when one of his cohorts insisted on making the documents widely available to serve the public good. Faced with a choice of serving the public interest or promoting their own, I sadly suspect most U.S. reporters would follow Berenson’s lead. (An outline of Berenson’s largely unknown antics can be found here and here.)
The Supreme Court of Canada should have taken a lesson from Parliament about knowing when to rebuff the prevailing wisdom of its neighbor. Years ago, Canada’s Parliament blocked four of the country’s five major Canadian banks from merging, showing remarkable responsibility and prescience by ignoring the dominant view in the U.S. at the time that “bigger is better” when it comes to financial institutions. Had those bank marriages been allowed, the merged institutions would likely have been badly crippled during the global economic collapse by their combined U.S. exposures. Instead, Canada’s banks remain among the healthiest and safest in the world.
Canada would be similarly wise to prevent the creation of a U.S. style press where the media can publish irresponsible and false stories with wanton abandon and without retribution. Regardless of your political leanings, it’s hard to argue that despite having the most liberal press freedoms in the world, the American public is any more enlightened than their brethren elsewhere in the Western world.
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October 27, 2009 2:00 pm : Comments 001
Those who know me will attest that I’m something of a fitness buff. The credit or blame, take your pick, goes to my seventh grade gym teacher who once lined me and my knobby-kneed classmates against a wall and declared with unmitigated disgust, “You boys are the poorest excuse for the male species I have ever met.” Let’s just say he was less-than-dazzled by our performance in a series of exercise drills.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, the gym teacher, a muscle-bound former Toronto Argonauts running back named Ulysses “Crazy Legs” Curtis, followed it up with this gem: “When you boys get older, you are going to want to sleep with girls, and before any girl will sleep with you, she’ll want to know how many pushups you can do.”
Alas, Curtis’s tenure at our school was short-lived, but I took his counsel to heart and began doing pushups and weight training from that day on. Nearly four decades later, I’m still at it, giving the younger kids at the gym a run for their money. (I was the first runner up in a contest last year at an Equinox Fitness Club to see which member could do the most pushups and pull ups within a minute; the guy who beat me was nearly 25 years younger.)
While I credit Curtis for getting me started on the fitness journey, in February I discovered someone whose influence on me already is equally profound. Her name is Jamie Graham, and she is a professional dancer who also oversees the Pilates studio at the Park Avenue Equinox club where I transferred last fall. Although I had long thought of Pilates as a “girlie” thing best suited for those who are looking for a simple stretch rather than a meaningful, sweat-inducing workout, the intensity and animation of Graham’s instruction and the level of attention she provides her clients, caught my attention. So when Equinox offered a free 30-minute session, I signed up. Truthfully, I wasn’t so much interested in learning Pilates as I was experiencing Graham’s passion for teaching it.
My initial session with Graham was quite sobering. One of the first routines she taught me is a routine known as the 100s, an intense abdominal, breathing, and concentration exercise that I found excruciatingly challenging. Graham is a stickler for detail and every movement she taught me required radical corrections. She also wasn’t shy about identifying my numerous weaknesses and body imbalances. As someone who was long used to impressing personal trainers with my fitness prowess, I found the constant adjustments both frustrating and humiliating.
But Graham inspired confidence, both in her abilities and my own, so I continued training with her. Though soft spoken and decidedly more understated than Curtis, Graham is equally tough and teaches with the same discipline as he did, albeit with more support and nurturing encouragement. She doesn’t care whether I like an exercise or routine, insisting that I embrace challenges that initially overwhelm or frustrate me. She knows my body’s limits better than I do, and without exception, each session with her has proven to be more challenging than the one before.
Though it took a few months, I gradually came to enjoy my sessions with Graham and increasingly experienced dramatic increases in my strength and flexibility. Whereas I first regarded Pilates as an activity for my “rest” days between my weight training sessions, it’s now my primary fitness training activity. Frankly, I’m starting to regard weight training as somewhat of a “girlie” thing.
Graham’s leadership also is impressive. Graham’s instructors all teach with the same enthusiasm and dedication she does and span at least four generations. By my estimation, they have well over 100 years of combined experience. If Pilates instruction was a competitive sport, Graham and her colleagues would unquestionably be the baseball equivalent of the New York Yankees.
Graham doesn’t engage in small talk while she’s teaching, and I know virtually nothing about her other than she is a performing modern dancer who hails from Nashville and trained at what is now known as True Pilates, a legendary Manhattan studio that research suggests is the Harvard of Pilates instruction. I’ve also learned that Graham, who has a maturity and poise way beyond her years, has no time for vanity. When I proudly told her a few weeks ago that the six-pack stomach I had in my youth had returned, she grimaced and replied, “A flat stomach is one of the results of Pilates, but it’s not what we are trying to achieve here.”
Given that Joseph Pilates initially conceived the practice that bears his name to rehabilitate hospital patients, I’m certain he would be quite pleased with Graham’s answer and with her mantra that Pilates is a process – a lifetime challenge that never ends.
Many thanks, Jamie, for starting me on my journey.
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October 10, 2009 9:30 pm : Comments 002
I avoid one-actor plays as I typically require a developing plotline and the interaction of multiple characters to hold my rather limited attention span. But I saw a one-actress play this week that has been weighing on my mind and not just because of its incredible intensity. The show reminded me once again as to why you should never judge a book by its cover.
The play is called “Guido Girl,” a coming-of-age musical memoir about Marianne Ferrari’s struggle to escape her oppressive adolescent life in the Bronx and realize her dream of becoming a Broadway star. Ferrari is an amazingly talented actress with a host of impressive theater and television credits, which came as a big shock to me when I read the program guide. Ferrari also happens to be a Pilates instructor at the midtown Manhattan studio where I train, and based on just a few good morning pleasantries, I always perceived her as being a rather shy and soft-spoken woman, albeit one with a very beautiful smile.
Turns out, Ferrari is anything but soft-spoken and her inimitable smile masks a rather troubled past. Ferrari is one of four children of Italian immigrants who arrived on the shores of New York harbor on the Andrea Doria a year to the day before it sank on July 25, 1955. Her parents would hardly be model candidates for a profile in Parenting magazine – her mother made her endure such indignities as pointing out which child was responsible for each Cesarean scar. Her father pointedly told “Marriana” she was washed up at 15 and blamed Ferrari and her siblings for his failure to become an opera star. So much for the stereotype that Jewish parents are the true Olympians when it comes to laying on the guilt.
Ferrari has a deft ear for foreign accents, and her imitation of her Scottish music teacher alone is worth the price of admission, though I found the simulation of how he ultimately sexually exploited her unsettling. Ferrari boldly shares some of her most humiliating childhood moments, like how Michael Meade dumped her because she was such an awful kisser. Fortunately, a more experienced girlfriend named Desiree taught her the ropes. And then there was Fifo, the career aimless boyfriend who took her virginity but had nothing more to offer than good sex.
Ferrari eventually found her way to California and embraced est and various other self-help programs for lost souls. Despite her painful childhood memories, she returned home 12 years later to help take care of her father, who was ailing with cancer but eventually beat the disease. Although its quite possible I just missed it (I often miss critical parts of plays), my only disappointment with the show is that Ferrari doesn’t share whether her parents are still living. While I’m certain they would be quite proud of their daughter’s acting and singing talents, I can’t imagine they would love her portrayals of them.
What is most remarkable about “Guido Girl” is the sheer physicality of Ferrari’s performance. She is in constant motion the entire 80 minutes she is on stage, climbing on blocks, contorting her body, and impersonating men and woman of all ages and nationalities. If not for her advanced Pilates training, I strongly doubt Ferrari could muster the stamina to do the show multiple evenings.
“Guido Girl” is alternatively hysterically funny and painfully sad, and I strongly recommend seeing the limited engagement show. And if by chance you are in the market for some top-notch Pilates instruction, I urge you to sign up for some lessons with Ferrari at the Equinox Fitness Club on Park Avenue, where, incidentally, the Pilates teaching standards are decidedly among the highest in the country.
You’ll have no problem finding Ferrari. Just look for the seemingly soft-spoken woman with the deceptively beautiful smile.
Emerging Artists Theatre presents
Guido Girl
written and performed by Marianne Ferrari
Directed by: Troy Miller
Musical Direction by: Peter Saxe
Produced by Agustine Welles
October 06, 2009 through November 01, 2009
Mondays @ 9pm
Tuesdays @ 7pm
Saturdays @ 9:30pm
Sundays @ 6pm
Location
TADA Theatre
15 W. 28th St., 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10001
Tickets
www.brownpapertickets.com
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September 11, 2009 11:42 am : Comments 001
The Internet is typically blamed as the primary reason for the accelerating decline of daily newspapers, but I don’t buy that argument. Quality neighborhood news cannot easily be found on the Internet and a newspaper that is staffed by journalists who understand and respect the communities they cover will always be in demand. Sadly, most daily newspapers don’t appreciate their readers’ interests and values, and accordingly, cannot establish, let alone maintain, a connection to their subscribers. Sometimes the disconnection is so egregious it leads to the publication of appallingly offensive articles.
Mark Whicker, a columnist for the Orange County Register, serves as a poster boy for why daily newspapers are dying. His column in question is so asinine that I’d prefer to just link to it, but I note that sample reader responses under the apology he was subsequently forced to issue are considerably more intelligent, thoughtful, and better written than the column itself. That Whicker’s column made it into print speaks volumes about the editorial leadership of the Orange County Register. The newspaper clearly is in need of some adult supervision.
The company that owns the Orange County Register filed for bankruptcy last week but promised there would be no changes to the newsroom’s operations. If that’s the case, The Register deserves to go out of business.
Herewith is Whicker’s commentary:
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/world-won-most-2555260-never-one
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August 4, 2009 1:37 pm : Comments 000
I could never make it as a restaurant critic. Don’t get me wrong — I enjoy fine dining as much as the next person and would have no problem doling out the criticisms when warranted. It’s the delivery of high praise that would be more problematic for me. There are only so many original ways I can imagine to describe a perfectly prepared filet mignon.
Writing another blog post about yet another exceptional Holy Cross intern poses a similar challenge. For the past five years, S&A has participated in the college’s innovative internship program. Although we provide a learning experience for a deserving junior or sophomore, it is the school’s alumni association that pays the student a stipend. Without exception, every Holy Cross intern we’ve had has far exceeded our expectations and raised the bar for their successor. Lauren Olney, our Holy Cross intern this summer, continued that tradition.
In years past, our Holy Cross interns worked primarily with my colleagues, as the general consensus around here is that an intern shouldn’t be subjected to my desultory ways. My brain typically processes information faster than I can articulate what I’m thinking, and I’ve been known to get quite frustrated when someone can’t immediately read my mind. Lauren isn’t easily intimidated and from the get-go displayed a certain grit and maturity that showed she was up to the challenge. The fact that Lauren also is a stubborn perfectionist made us kindred spirits.
One of the challenges of working with Lauren is the incredible speed and accuracy with which she completes her tasks (admittedly, not the worst challenge for a manager to have). I once gave her a project that I expected would take her an hour to complete. Fifteen minutes later, she was at my door, finished assignment in hand, asking for another one. I marvel at how quickly Lauren can navigate the web and mine critical research; she manipulates web resources with the panache and flair of a virtuoso conductor commanding an orchestra.
Lauren’s accomplishments here at S&A are quite impressive. We have a client in a financial niche not readily understood by outsiders. Not only did Lauren learn their business, she used that understanding to secure a profile story on the company in an influential trade publication. Even Jeff, one of the best media guys I know, was in awe. Lauren also came up with one of the best slogans we submitted to a client, though admittedly she had a decided edge in this department (her father is vice president of marketing at a major consumer company).
I grudgingly note as well that Lauren’s blog post on New Jersey two weeks ago has generated more traffic lately than my own blog posts. Underscoring her endearing modesty, Lauren says her family and friends likely account for most of the volume. (Kudos to the person who taught Lauren you should never upstage your boss).
Lauren also handles rejection well. Lauren didn’t argue or complain after Jackie spiked a blog post after I had her rewrite it three times (Jackie’s concern was with the appropriateness of the theme for a corporate blog, not the quality of the writing). The experience was no doubt highly frustrating, but Lauren learned first-hand that S&A’s strength is teamwork and mutual respect for the judgment of others (Jackie has the final say on all corporate blogs, including mine).
But what I’m most grateful about Lauren are the lessons she taught me. Among them:
Daily Print Newspapers Have No Future
Lauren is quite knowledgeable and inquisitive, but she grew up in a digital world. She dutifully reads the New York Times every day - on her iPhone. And heed this Mr. Sulzberger: You try charging Lauren even a nickel to access your content and you will lose her as a reader. Given that some 34 percent of people in Lauren’s age group don’t even follow the news, it’s hard to imagine that the print editions of newspapers will be economically viable in a few years.
Journalism Can’t Attract the Best and the Brightest
Lauren is a talented writer and editor, her research and analytical skills are extraordinary, and she works on her college newspaper. Lauren also is quite resourceful: she had a Facebook account in high school when the site was supposed to be restricted to college students. Lauren would make an exceptional reporter, but she isn’t considering a career in journalism because she doesn’t think she is “aggressive” enough.
With few exceptions, the best journalists I know get by on the dint of their intellect and integrity, not their aggression. But the media’s reputation has been so badly sullied that journalism is now perceived as a business best suited for loud, self-absorbed individuals interested in promoting themselves rather than serving the public good.
Don’t Stereotype Generation Y
Young adults in the so-called Generation Y age bracket have been maligned for their supposed sense of entitlement, less-than-hearty work habits, and pop culture-punctuated speech. Suffice to say, Lauren and all her Holy Cross predecessors distinguished themselves through their industriousness and professionalism. Never once did any of our Holy Cross interns show up even one minute late for work and they always offered to stay beyond their scheduled departure times. I’d match their writing and verbal skills against those of any generation.
Apparently some companies are turning to consultants now to help them better understand and manage the younger members of their workforce. I have some valuable advice for these companies: Your money would be better spent sending recruiters to schools like Holy Cross who attract top students with a seemingly very different mindset and work ethic than their headline-hogging peers.
If Lauren Olney is representative of our nation’s future leaders, the country will be in very good hands.
Good luck in your senior year, Lauren. You will be missed!
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July 24, 2009 10:56 am : Comments 000
The well-worn cliché about the shoemaker’s children notwithstanding, logic clearly suggests that a publishing company whose major asset is the world’s most respected newspaper would know at least a little something about media relations. On any given day, The New York Times receives hundreds – maybe thousands – of pitches from PR people angling to get their client, product, company, or cause included among “All the News That’s Fit to Print.”
If any company should appreciate the value of having a clear, credible, and consistent message, it is The New York Times. Remarkably, however, the Times is flailing on the PR front, and its current media offensive is only quickening the fast erosion of its prestigious brand. The newspaper’s editor and spokesperson are publicly lashing out at reporters whose stories question the newspaper’s future and the competency of its publisher with the kind of ad hominem attacks the newspaper regularly hears and knows not to take seriously from the targets of its stories.
The peril of the Times‘ PR offensive was underscored last Friday in “Page Six” of the New York Post. Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis apparently called to complain after the gossip column characterized Mexican financier Carlos Slim as the newspaper’s savior. Earlier this year, Slim had agreed to inject $250 million into the publishing company, for which he will be paid a whopping 14 percent interest. “I think the correct way to refer to Mr. Slim is that he is a shareholder in the New York Times Co.,” Mathis reportedly argued. “And we did a debt transaction with two companies in which he has an ownership position.”
I’m all for taking the offensive and playing hardball with reporters, but the tactic only works if you have formidable facts and credible arguments. CIT, a company teetering on the edge of bankruptcy last week, was saved at the 11th hour after agreeing to pay 13 percent interest on its debt injection. It is not unreasonable to assume that a company paying an even higher rate must be in a similarly dire situation. In any case, arguing semantics with the writers of Page Six is a strategy doomed from the get-go, particularly if you represent a company that is a frequent target of its ridicule.
In fairness to Mathis, she may have been pressured by management, or some outside consultant, to make the ill-advised call about their characterization of Slim. Regardless of who was responsible for the decision, it should now be abundantly clear that it was a very bad one. In the end, it merely served to spark the kind of negative attention that the Times presumably wants to avoid (corporate communications isn’t for the faint of heart).
Alarmingly, that bad call to Page Six was not a one-off. Comments Mathis and Times editor Bill Keller have made to reporters at The New York Observer suggest that attacking reporters and media outlets who write critical stories about the Times and its publisher is standard procedure – and the full sum of its PR strategy. The problem is, of course, that that is not really a PR strategy or plan. It’s a bad omen.
The Times‘ future is dependent on whether it can maintain its position as a purveyor of the best original journalistic content available anywhere. Communicating and reinforcing that message should be the driving force behind all the newspaper’s PR initiatives. Given the Times‘ precarious finances, debating whether Slim is a savior or merely an investor is akin to a spokesman for the Titanic arguing in its waning hours that the ship wasn’t sinking but merely taking in some water.
Many companies mistakenly isolate public relations as a separate silo from their core businesses. But effective and authentic PR requires a holistic initiative that integrates a broad range of functions outside of marketing, finance, internal communications, and particularly HR. Mathis can tell reporters outside that the Times‘ finances aren’t all that bad, but its own news staffers are being told the situation is sufficiently dire that they have to take pay cuts and furloughs. That is a significant message misalignment that cannot be dismissed.
If the Times is to have a fighting chance at a winning PR program, it needs a real plan that focuses on promoting, preserving, and reinforcing its superior brand of journalism. Media relations – the effective kind – should be only one component of that effort. Among some tactics for the Times to consider:
Ignore the NY Post
The Post has been trashing the Times and publisher Arthur “Pinch” Sulzberger Jr. for as long as I can remember and nothing the Times can do or say is going to make a difference. We all know that Post owner Rupert Murdoch is determined to have his Wall Street Journal dethrone the Times as America’s most influential newspaper, so he has a vested interest in diminishing the value of the competition’s brand. Michael Vick has a better chance of being named head of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals than the Times does of getting favorable coverage in the Post or any News Corp. media outlet. Accept it and move on.
Don’t Waste Your Time with Michael Wolff and Other “Nattering Nabobs of Negativism”
It’s a waste of time to pursue a “charm offensive” with Michael Wolff and other media pundits who promote their own brands by trashing yours. Most Times readers don’t know who Michael Wolff is, and even if they do, they probably don’t care what he has to say. The only people who take Wolff seriously are other journalists at best. Let Murdoch, who clearly doesn’t have a lot of time for Wolff and his antics, deal with him in his own inimitable way.
Get Bill Keller Media Training — Stat!
Times Editor Bill Keller needs to learn a valuable lesson in media relations: Just because a reporter asks a question doesn’t mean you have to answer it. He discloses way too much about the inner journalistic workings of The New York Times. The Observer should pay him a stipend for all the original material he provides the newspaper’s media reporters.
For a seasoned journalist, Keller can say the darnedest things. To wit: Responding to a question about layoffs, he told the Observer that “it serves no useful purpose to talk about things that are mainly hypothetical.” That’s a pretty incredulous comment coming from an editor whose own newspaper regularly reports and speculates on the hypothetical. As well, he might want to check out some recent Times corrections or this classic before chastising other publications for “mistakes elementary fact checking should have caught.” It’s unfortunate that Vanity Fair’s profile of Sulzberger misstated the number of Times reporters, but at least they spelled the name of your publisher correctly.
As the saying goes, “People who live in glass houses…”
Focus More on the “Nuances” of Times Readers
Amid the Times‘ unprecedented challenge for survival, Keller last month jetted off to Iran so he could better understand the “nuances” of that country. While I understand and respect that Keller wants to preserve his overseas reporting chops, the Times probably doesn’t have much of a paid circulation in that country.
The most successful corporate leaders make a point of actively meeting with current and potential customers. As the editorial leader of The New York Times, it is Keller’s responsibility to meet with readers and potential readers and hear first-hand about their concerns and interests. Traveling to Detroit might not be as interesting as visiting Tehran, but the economic and political turmoil there is quite formidable. Not to mention, the Times offers home delivery in the area.
Stop Telling Readers Who First Reported a Story
With the exception of journalists, the vast majority of readers don’t care one iota which news organization was first to report a story unless it involves something monumental like the Watergate break-in. The Times should stop crediting other media outlets for first reporting stories that it is just covering for the first time; doing so merely creates the impression that you are serving warmed over news. If competing publications want recognition in the Times for being first to report a story, let them take out an ad.
Kill Clark Hoyt’s Column
It’s admirable that the Times feels an obligation to employ someone whose job it is to air the newsroom’s dirty laundry, but in this day and age it’s a luxury you can’t afford. In addition to Fox News and the Post, there are more than enough bloggers looking to call attention to the Times‘ journalistic wrongdoings, and I’m not aware of any evidence that having an ombudsman has a meaningful impact on how reporters conduct themselves. Hoyt’s columns merely serve as a painful reminder that the Times also has its share of ethically challenged reporters and columnists– and endanger the remaining trust readers have in the brand.
Get Your Messages Straight
Accuracy and consistency of message are two of the givens of PR, yet sometimes Mathis has made statements that are subsequently shown to be egregiously wrong. I speak from first hand-experience. And I’m not the only one who has taken issue with the credibility of her statements. (Again, to be fair, Mathis may merely be following orders).
For what it’s worth, Mathis shouldn’t be commenting on editorial matters. There is supposedly a separation between the Times‘ business and editorial sides, and a corporate spokesperson shouldn’t be straddling that division. The newspaper has a “standards editor.” He should be the spokesperson on most editorial matters.
Keep Your Reporters Focused on Producing Great Journalism
I recently had breakfast with a Times reporter whose “to do list” for the day was staggering. Within hours, he was expected to file a story for the International Herald Tribune, do a broadcast interview, and then report on a major Page One story for the following day’s newspaper. Adding to the reporter’s stress was an ever-increasing mandate not to get beaten by Murdoch’s invigoratedWall Street Journal.
What makes the Times America’s most respected newspaper is its ability to provide highly authoritative and original content. Reporters can’t do this if they are expected to rush off and provide interviews for the broadcast networks and videos for the Times‘ website.
Multi-platform journalism is a great concept in theory, but in the real world a journalist can only produce a finite amount of content. Times reporters today are stretched way too thin and are being dragged in competing directions – while being asked to take a pay cut to boot. This is not a sustainable or realistic HR model. Journalists don’t aspire to work at the Times for the opportunity to provide sound bites for Entertainment Tonight.
No More Comedy Central Interviews
After watching the Daily Show interview, even the newspaper must now realize the error of its ways in letting those cameras in. What on earth were you thinking? The show’s stock-and-trade is mocking mainstream journalists and the Times no doubt represented the ultimate target. And make no mistake, Jason Jones hit a bull’s eye.
Sulzberger apparently likes to spout that he is “platform agnostic.” While I don’t know exactly what that means, presumably it has to do with making the Times available to readers via the medium of their choosing. If that’s the case, the Times needs a leader that excels at communicating on all platforms and in diverse interview situations, including comedy shows – like this guy and this guy.
When a company is in a crisis mode, a solid, rational public relations strategy is the compass that helps leadership find its way out of the dark woods. Regrettably, it seems the Times is operating without one.
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July 20, 2009 1:41 pm : Comments 001
Meet Lauren Olney, our Holy Cross intern this year. Although Ms. Olney is well travelled and has lived in world-class cities as London, Toronto, and Rome, like S&A co-founder Jackie Condie she takes great pride in being - ahem — a Jersey Girl. Ms. Olney believes the much maligned Garden State unfairly gets a bad rap and argues there is much more to New Jersey than storage tanks, strip malls, and nail salons. Here is Ms. Olney’s recommended PR positioning for the Garden State (We decided to let it slide that she chose to attend a college in Massachusetts). — S&A Staff
“New Jersey.”
What pops into mind when you see or hear the name? A vision less than flattering I bet… including smog and big poofy hair perhaps?
Now, imagine living there and telling out-of-staters. Imagine seeing their expression turn sour. Imagine meeting a man in Rome - who first asked if the state of Seattle was above New York - knowing people “no like New Jersey.”
Trust me, it’s not easy.
People have poor opinions of New Jersey, as the media often captures the dramatic, not qualifying, aspects of the state. Thus, the general public is left with several common misconceptions, leaving a lot to be desired of New Jersey’s reputation management skills.
Myth #1: “What people see in Newark is what the rest of NJ looks like”
New Jersey is not just factories and roads, but few people venture beyond the Turnpike or airport to see aspects like the twenty percent of Jersey’s productive farmland. Does the average American know that NJ ranks 2nd in blueberry production, 3rd in spinach, and 4th in bell peppers among many? Or that the state has the most horses per square mile? I once visited Central Jersey, and with open fields and large farms, and at first I had to ask if we were in the same state. Houses were modest, clothing choices were understated. Certainly, “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” featured nothing of the sort.
Myth #2: “New Jersey has the worst drivers in the country”
Despite what some people may think, New Jersey residents are tested the same as other states, and aren’t really the worst (sorry, New York.) New Jersey has the highest population density per square mile, thirteen times higher than the national average. That means everywhere, including roads, are more crowded. How does anyone expect us to be docile or forgiving on the road? To endure such a dense setting, one must anticipate and use survival-of-the-fittest maneuvering tactics. Hence explaining outbursts of aggression?
Myth #3: “Everyone from NJ is like The Soprano’s, or the Real Housewives”
“Joisey” accents, sprawling Vegas-like mansions, Italian-American family life, and criminal organizations are what these shows make New Jersey seem like. I (despite my dreams of being Italian) am a combination of Irish and Slovak heritage. My neighborhood also is very diverse, which isn’t unusual given that New Jersey ranks among the highest religiously and ethnically diverse states. There always has been a broad Italian base in Jersey, but the Asian-American population currently is the fastest growing in the state (and they aren’t in the Sopranos…?)
Myth #4: “Nobody from New Jersey is very smart”
Many people think that New Jersey residents are unintelligent. But it may be a surprising fact that NJ is tied for second with Massachusetts for the highest number of high school graduates that go to college, and placed sixth for percentage of residents who completed a Bachelor’s degree. With the statistics as back up, New Jersey is one of the smartest states.
Myth #5: “Nothing good ever happened in New Jersey”
New Jersey was once known as “the Crossroads of the Revolution” as it housed more battles than any colony during the Revolutionary War. Princeton became the nation’s capital for four months, and New Jersey became the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights. Among other New Jersey accomplishments, are the first drive in movie theater, Miss America pageant, brewery, can of condensed soup, submarine, boardwalk, and the first solid body electric guitar. Our state housed the first organized baseball game, first professional basketball game, and the first intercollegiate football game. Famous names such as Thomas Edison, Clara Barton, Grover Cleveland, Frank Sinatra, Stephen Crane, Paul Simon, Chelsea Handler, Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, and Derek Jeter were all from the state. Nothing good? The facts beg to differ.
So, please, the next time we tell you we’re from New Jersey, hold back the urge to give us the same, distinctive response. Our reputation needs to be improved by shedding more light on our positive attributes, because proudly, we have many. And, even though nobody likes us, there’s a reason why we have one of the lowest depression rates.
Instead, perhaps an old New Jersey state slogan says it best: “come see for yourself.”
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