» Frank Washkuch - The Cycle

Blog rally aids ‘Boston Globe’

Posted April 10, 2009

Paul Levy, president of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, tried to improve the prognosis of The Boston Globe on April 6 by organizing a blog rally in support of the newspaper. The Globe’s owner, The New York Times Co., has threatened to shut down the outlet if its unions don’t agree to concessions.

About 30 Boston-area bloggers participated in the rally, said Levy, who blogs at runningahospital.blogspot.com.

“Those of us who are involved in civic affairs in this town understand that unless you have a vibrant investigative entity in the community, the government and the corporations will not be held accountable,” he tells PRWeek.

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Filed under: 1, Blogs, Journalism 2.0, Media, New Media, Web sites

Tags:Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Globe, Paul levy, The New York Times Co.

‘Star Tribune’ employees launch SaveTheStrib.com

Posted April 10, 2009

Newsroom employees of the Star Tribune of Minneapolis and St. Paul launched SaveTheStrib.com on April 5, a Web-based effort supporting the newspaper, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January.

The site features testimonials on the value of the newspaper by regional VIPs, employee profiles, and an area for comments.

The group of about 25 participating journalists considers prospective new owners and the public its two main target markets. Graydon Royce, theater critic and fine arts reporter, tells PRWeek. “We’re trying to raise awareness. We don’t run the business; we work for the business…and we know there are going to be new owners,” said Royce, also a cochairman of the employee guild. “We are trying to show a new ownership group that there are people who are dedicated to doing everything they can to move forward and move the Star Tribune forward.”

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Filed under: Journalism 2.0, Media, Web sites

Tags:Graydon Royce, SaveTheStrib.com, Star Tribune

‘Financial Times’ promotes G20 interviews to broadcast, bloggers, trades

Posted April 2, 2009

All eyes are on the G20 in London this week, increasingly focused on the instead of the . The Financial Times, which has interviewed a number of world leaders attending the summit, has conducted wide-ranging media outreach this week to promote its coverage.

The newspaper has pitched editor Lionel Barber, US managing editor Chrystia Freeland, and Washington bureau chief Ed Luce to cable broadcast outlets as experts on the event, and also notified media trade publications about the series of interviews, said Darcy Day Keller, Financial Times head of communications for the Americas, via e-mail. The outlet has also reached out to bloggers via Facebook and , she said.

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Tags:Chrystia Freeland, Ed Luce, , Financial Times, G20, Lionel Barber

Times Co. rebrands ‘International Herald Tribune’ site

Posted April 1, 2009

Visitors to the International Herald Tribune’s Web site, whether checking for the latest on the markets or updates from the in London, are surely wondering if they clicked on the wrong bookmark.

Parent organization The New York Times Co. rebranded the publication’s Web site “The Global Edition of The New York Times” on March 29, combining the content created by its staff on the page with that of Times journalists. It also has a new URL: global.nytimes.com.

The Times Co. is also promoting the reorganized page, which visitors to IHT.com are automatically transferred to, at the top of .

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Filed under: International, Journalism 2.0, Media, New Media, Web sites

Tags:G20, IHT.com, International Herald Tribune, NYTimes.com, The New York Times, The New York Times Co.

Pay-for-coverage programs not new, or easy, says professor

Posted March 11, 2009

Asked about blogger-payment programs conducted by what many believe to be a growing number of communications professionals, Don Bates, professor at George Washington University, told PRWeek via e-mail that such efforts aren’t controversial, or new. Said Bates: “A minority of PR firms has been using paid advertising and paid media for as long as I can remember, and I’ve been around the business for more than 35 years.”

“Paid media is a reasonable extension of PR services, and to my way of thinking, something that should be considered, especially in this era of digital communications when so much is moving to the Wild West of online,” he said.

However, Bates added, the practice “is not for the uninitiated.”

“It may look easy but it isn’t. The required research, art, copy, placement, billing, administration – all are different than their counterparts in PR,” he added. “Then there’s the potential impact on your media relations work. Once you start advertising, the media will start to treat you like an ad agency with potentially negative consequences for your client’s or employer’s press coverage.”

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Filed under: Advertising, Agency-client relationship, Blogs, Consumer, Corporate Communications, Education, Guerilla/WOM, Journalism 2.0, Media, New Media, Social Media, Web sites

Tags:Don Bates, George Washington University

Posted March 6, 2009

After a night at the PRWeek Awards (my second), I’m going to need some new business cards. Not so much because I passed so many of them out to industry contacts who were tolerant of my glad-handing, but because mine don’t have my Twitter handle – - on them.

As evidenced by the of #prweekawards messages, tweeting throughout the awards and other events is a big hit with PR folks. And no less than three industry contacts asked me if my card had my Twitter information on it.

Who knows? Maybe by the time the 2010 PRWeek Awards rolls around, Twitter handles will be so commonplace, attendees won’t have to ask.

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Filed under: PRWeek Awards, Social Media, Technology

Tags:PRWeek Awards,

Bartz uses Yahoo blog to explain management changes

Posted February 26, 2009

Carol Bartz, Yahoo’s CEO since January, reached out to consumers via the company blog today, shortly after it disclosed that Blake Jorgensen, CFO, will exit as soon as his replacement is found.

“Today I’m rolling out a new management structure that I believe will make Yahoo a lot faster on its feet,” she blogged. “For us working at Yahoo, it means everything gets simpler. We’ll be able to make speedier decisions, the notorious silos are gone, and we have a renewed focus on the customer.”

More to come…

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Filed under: Blogs, Corporate Communications, Financial/IR, Technology

Tags:Blake Jorgensen, Carol Bartz, Yahoo

Scripps to close ‘Rocky Mountain News’ after February 27 edition

Posted February 26, 2009

EW Scripps executives told Rocky Mountain News employees in person today that the company is closing the newspaper, which had been in print since 1859 and in tabloid format since 1942. The four-time Pulitzer Prize winner publishes its last issue on February 27.

Scripps spokeswoman Lee Rose told PRWeek that Scripps officials were conducting a press conference on February 26. The company has not hired an agency for the announcement, she said.

Hearst said this week that The San Francisco Chronicle if its unions do not make concessions.

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Tags:EW Scripps, Lee Rose, Pulitzer Prize, Rocky Mountain News, The San Francisco Chronicle

‘New York Post’ *apologizes for cartoon; Sharpton says protest to go on

Posted February 20, 2009

The New York Post has issued an apology – more or less – for running a cartoon that many state political leaders thought was racially insensitive, to say the least.

“It was meant to mock an ineptly written federal stimulus bill. Period,” reads the Post’s editorial apology. “But it has been taken as something else – as a depiction of President [Barack] Obama, as a thinly veiled expression of racism. This most certainly was not its intent; to those who were offended by the image, we apologize.” Read more »

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Tags:Al Sharpton, New York Post, President Barack Obama

Protests, boycott calls on second day of outrage about ‘New York Post’ cartoon

Posted February 19, 2009

Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network (NAN) is planning more protests and public actions condemning the New York Post after the newspaper, a property of News Corp., ran an editorial cartoon widely considered to be racist.

The cartoon, playing off the of a chimp put down by Stamford, CT police officers after nearly killing a woman, features a gunned-down primate with the caption, “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.” Critics of the drawing have said cartoonist Sean Delonas is representing President Barack Obama with the animal, while the Post has said the drawing is a satirical play on a current event.

Sharpton called for a boycott of the newspaper on February 19 during a protest outside the Post’s Midtown headquarters. Another demonstration, this one leveraging an appearance by director Spike Lee, is planned for February 20, said Rachel Noerdlinger, VP of communications at the NAN. Sharpton has appeared on more than 15 TV programs and conducted numerous print interviews in the day since the cartoon ran, said Noerdlinger, who has organized media outreach for the effort. Future action, including a possible boycott of Post advertisers, will be determined after a February 19 planning meeting, she told PRWeek.

For its part, the Post has had no comment beyond its original statement.

Meanwhile, in other reaction to the cartoon, Ted Rall, president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, said the drawing isn’t racist but a “cheap form of editorial cartooning.” Michael Wolff, biographer of News Corp. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch, bets that Post editor Col Allen will be fired shortly.

Here’s a Google News of coverage of the controversy.

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Filed under: Crisis Communications, Media, Multicultural, Politics

Tags:Al Sharpton, Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, Col Allen, Michael Wolff, National Action Network, New York Post, News Corp, President Barack Obama, Rachel Noerdlinger, Rupert Murdoch, Sean Delonas, Spike Lee, Stamford, Ted Rall

Blog rally aids ‘Boston Globe’

‘Star Tribune’ employees launch SaveTheStrib.com

‘Financial Times’ promotes G20 interviews to broadcast, bloggers, trades

Times Co. rebrands ‘International Herald Tribune’ site

Pay-for-coverage programs not new, or easy, says professor

Bartz uses Yahoo blog to explain management changes

Scripps to close ‘Rocky Mountain News’ after February 27 edition

‘New York Post’ *apologizes for cartoon; Sharpton says protest to go on

Protests, boycott calls on second day of outrage about ‘New York Post’ cartoon

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