Going straight to the sources for news

One of journalism's functions -- whether we journalists care to admit it or not -- is to funnel public-relations material to an audience. The best journalism operations apply their best editorial judgment to p.r. material. If it's not newsworthy, it's not published. And even worthwhile stuff is rewritten to remove jargon, p.r.-speak and over-the-top promotional material.
In the best newsrooms, public relations material is no more than a starting point for a reporter. A press release can provide story ideas, contact names and background info.
In the worst newsrooms, a press release is published verbatim by lazy or unethical journalists.
Understandably, public-relations executives would generally prefer that their material be unedited, while being surrounded on the written page by editorial copy. P.R. pros understand that such placement gives their copy the appearance of news produced by journalists.
So what happens when public-relations companies can produce their own news and use it to "surround" their marketing message? Last week, Purina did just that. And as I've said before, I expect to see a surge in B2B news produced by B2B news sources.
Today, Doc Searls points toward a news-filled blog that is written by Boeing engineers. As Doc points out, the blog is serving a p.r. function and doing it much better than a press release could. And an article in BusinessWeek says one of the more popular blogs in France is run by the head of French retail giant E. Leclerc. That blog is filled with copy about news topics such as inflation and government policy -- editorial copy that surrounds and "legitimizes" a public-relations message.
In a world where news sources can now be news publishers, traditional B2B publishers should be asking themselves how they can respond to such developments in the industries they serve.
And B2B journalists need to ask themselves -- and ask themselves honestly -- if they'll miss it when someday in the near future their in-boxes are no longer filled with press releases.

Rob Curley leaves Kansas for Florida

Rob Curley, the new-media genius behind the converged newsroom of the Lawrence Journal-World in Kansas, has accepted a new job in Naples, Fla.
The move comes just days after Rob's work captured the attention of the New York Times.
Rob's move is certainly good news for Naples, but it's a sad day for Lawrence. It's a sad day for me too. I love Kansas and visit at least once a year. And part of the fun of that trip has been watching how the Journal-World serves its community. I've never been anywhere in Florida. But I suppose now I'll have to visit.
Everyone in journalism should pay attention to Rob's work. And everyone should be making some effort to duplicate the success he has had with convergence.

A really simple project for the long weekend

Here in the USA, tonight marks the start of the Fourth of July holiday weekend. Most businesses will be closed until Tuesday. I'll be spending part of the long weekend doing long-weekend things -- cooking, exercising, being with family, napping and going to the movies. Unfortunately I'll also be doing the most long-weekend thing of all -- catching up on work.
Before you take a look at your own to-do list, allow me to make a suggestion.
If you haven't already learned to use RSS, then you're already way behind many of your peers. Take time this weekend to learn the system that will make it possible for you to once again keep track of the news and information you need to do your job.
It's easy to do. I promise. There's a reason why they call this stuff really simple syndication.
If you've followed my earlier suggestion to download the Firefox browser, then learning RSS is going to be really, really simple. Firefox has RSS-reading capability already built into a feature called Live Bookmarks.
For a fun look at these subjects, check out this piece in the Chicago Sun-Times.

An award that is not deserved

Lawn & Landscape magazine has been named the best trade magazine in Ohio.
Something, it would seem, is terribly wrong with Ohio.
As I've pointed out before on this blog, L&L and its parent company, GIE, have the most serious shortcomings possible in journalism -- they mislead and insult their readers.
Look -- there are thousands of ethical and talented professionals working in B2B media. But much of the world looks at B2B journalism as shady, slimy and amateurish. Trade magazines still have a reputation for hiring failures and dimwits who cut ethical corners. All of us suffer because companies such as GIE refuse to behave professionally.
Perhaps next year the Press Club of Cleveland can find someone a little more ethical to honor.

When news sources become news competitors

Blogging can make anyone a publisher. Podcasting can make anyone a broadcaster.
I've warned traditional B2B publishers that these new technologies mean that the next wave of competitors are coming from two unexpected places -- their own staff and news sources.
Need more convincing?
Purina has entered the podcasting world, creating audio files aimed at consumers. That should be a warning to anyone in agriculture news. Because there is nothing to stop Purina Mills from creating similar programs for a B2B audience of ranchers, farmers or veternarians.
It should also be a warning to everyone else in B2B publishing. How will you respond when some of the most respected brands in the industry you cover begin to produce their own news products?

Business journalism awards

I just love the Trade, Association and Business Publications International group, which represents the trade press around the globe. TABPI calls me "a b2b champion, full of interesting information. Not afraid to tell it like it is." And I love anyone who says nice things about me.
Today TABPI is saying some nice things about some other folks too. The group has announced the winners of its Tabbie awards in 12 editorial categories.
Topping the list for best single issue were England's Legal Business, U.S.-based Pensions & Investments, and New Zealand's NZ Retail.
Perhaps the most interesting thing in this year's awards is the performance of tiny NZ Retailer, published by AGM. The 5,000 circulation magazine placed in three categories.
Take a look at the complete list of winners. Follow the links and look to see who is doing good work in your space.
Want to see some more award-winning business journalism?
UCLA's school of management has announced the winners of the Gerald Loeb awards. The prizes are for consumer-oriented newspaper and TV operations, but B2B journalists should take note. The Loeb awards tend to go to those mainstream journalists who spot the 'big" story in an industry. Sometimes those stories have been covered to death by B2B journalists. But just as often the story was missed by B2B reporters who became so immersed in industry minutiae that they lost the ability to spot news.
Every B2B writer who covers transportation should wonder why he didn't write the "Death on the Tracks" series. Every agriculture writer should wonder if he missed a story about Washington State apples. Everyone at every computer magazine should be furious that they didn't break the IBM story.

More on transparency and journalism ethics

Over at Ari Slogan's site about citizen journalism, there's an interesting post on a recent Boston Globe article about blogging and product endorsements.
Of particular interest is that the Globe article has triggered some online debate about transparency (and about the Globe's accuracy.) But, as Ari points out, none of the debate is happening at the Globe's site because the newspaper doesn't have a comment function.
Take a look at the article, Ari's site and the links he has posted. You'll see that it seems the blogging world is dividing into two different camps. One group sees its primary mission as editorial, and takes steps to avoid business relationships that would threaten credibility. The second group is less interested in reputation than it is in revenue. That group is much like the bottom feeders of B2B publishing that I've written about here and here.
I put my blog in that first group. If you missed it before, here's my post about how and why I turned down a product endorsement deal.

The wisdom and wit of full disclosure

At the top of the list of things I love about the blogging world and the new media culture is transparency. I've been a journalist for about three decades now, and I have no illusions about objectivity. At best, objectivity is a dry style of writing. At worst, it's a myth that villains practice. Most commonly, it's a place for journalists who aren't inclined toward self examination to hide.
Transparency requires a journalist to rethink his writing style, and to examine his connections and beliefs. The most common form of transparency is the disclosure clause, which tells readers about a reporter's connections to a story.
And as it turns out, the disclosure clause is also a place to have a little fun.
Here's how Simon Dumenco describes his prejudices in his inaugural column at Ad Age. "Over the years, I’ve worked for, consulted for and/or created “content” for a disparate range of media companies including AOL, Bulfinch Press, Conde Nast, Dennis Publishing, HarperCollins, Harpo, HBO, Hearst, Primedia, Time Inc., Time Warner, Universal, Viacom and Wenner Media. My policy is to acknowledge that I know way too many people in this business, to admit that I’m hopelessly conflicted and to make fun of all of the above companies -- except for Primedia, which is the most retarded media company ever in the history of the world, and everybody knows it’s not nice to make fun of the "differently abled."
I trust that Simon also cringed at today's news that Tom Rogers, the "differently abled" former CEO of Primedia, has been named CEO and president of TiVo. People who witnessed the decline of Primedia on Rogers' watch may want to short some TiVo shares.
FULL DISCLOSURE: Although I have also worked for Time Warner and Primedia, and although it appears that we loathe some of the same people, I have never met Simon Dumenco.

The newspaper of the future is already in Kansas

It's so rare that I agree with the New York Times that when it does happen, I have to run to the computer and post something.
Everyone who knows me knows that I think the most interesting paper in the United States is the Lawrence Journal-World in Lawrence, Kan.
Now the Times seems to have noticed what's happening there. In a story called "The Newspaper of the Future," Tim O'Brien makes the pilgrimage to the center of new media publishing and the converged newsroom. It's a wonderful article. Take the time to read it. There's something to be learned in Lawrence by everyone in journalism.

When writing excludes

We write to communicate. And to communicate well, we must speak the same language as our readers.
Yet too many people who make their livings as writers insist on communicating in a way that excludes. Sports metaphors, pop-culture references and clichés all require that your reader be just like you -- interested in the same things and coming from the same place.
That's a mistake born of laziness and cultural bigotry -- two things that journalists must avoid if they are to learn to write well.
There's an interesting piece on the Poynter site about just this subject.
Take a look.
And take a look at what fellow journalism blogger Doug Shaw has to say.

Another new Web site that misses the point

Today I find yet another press release in my email inbox announcing yet another B2B magazine's redesigned Web site. But when I take a look at the site, I have to ask -- why bother?
Look at the relaunch of Penton's Material Handling Management and see if you're as disappointed as I am.
First, the press release plays up the site's RSS feeds and promises "Daily News from various sources, updated every 15 minutes, 24 hours a day." That sounds like MHM is planning on offering some form of open-source news service. But when I add the RSS feed to my news reader all I get is a bunch of press releases.
Other problems: You can spend an enormous amount of time looking through the MHM site without ever feeling that you're online. Most stories -- whether dumped from the print version or written just for the Web -- are text only. Graphics are rare. Links are nearly non-existent. Take a look at this piece, for example. (And doesn't anyone at MHM think that an article about trucks that is written by a truck salesman might need to be tagged as advertorial?)
Perhaps most offensive to me is that MHM doesn't understand -- and, in fact, seems opposed to -- the cultural change in journalism. Take a look at this silly piece about blogging. The writer is seemingly convinced that his magazine is still the sole voice of reason in the industry he covers. He urges readers to avoid blogs in the material-handling field becasue they are inaccurate. That may very well be true. I have no idea. Because remarkably he doesn't link to any of the blogs he's worried about, nor does he name them. It would appear that his primary goal isn't journalism -- which, by definition, is about providing information. Instead his goal is to limit information.
Here's a secret everyone in B2B editorial should learn. Your readers are at least as smart as you. They don't need you to tell them what they should, and should not, be reading. Doing so is offensive. And treating your readers like children makes you look childish.
Look. Let's review the basics.
The Web has given power to your readers. They now find information in hundreds of places. More importantly, they now use blogs and bulletin boards and similar services to engage in conversation about information.
The Web has also given power to you. You can use the Web to facilitate those conversations. You can use the Web to ease the search for information by linking offsite. And you can use the Web to improve your storytelling by using multimedia tools.
Failing to tap into those powers is a sure way to get your magazine excluded from the conversation.

tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, conversational media

R&I and CMO win ASBPE magazine awards

Reed Business's Restaurants & Institutions and IDG's CMO have been named the magazines of the year by the American Society of Business Publication Editors. Congratulations to all involved.

R&I, which publishes 20 times a year and covers "the entire foodservice industry, including chains, independent restaurants, hotels and institutions," collected the ASBPE honors for magazines with circulation of more than 80,000. It was judged for its performance in five editorial categories, including excellence in reporting and writing, design and reader interaction.
Certainly R&I is deserving of the honor. It tends to publish information-dense stories that feature crisp writing. More importantly, the stories tend to be well sourced and brief. For example, if you're willing to put up with a very intrusive registration process, take a look at this piece from April. The writer quotes four sources by name and title and tells the story in fewer than 700 words. If you spend anytime at all looking at B2B magazines than you know how rare it is to find a story that quotes more than one source. Or, even worse, are B2B publications that routinely use unnamed sources without justification.
I'm a little less impressed with R&I's interaction with readers. There is a feedback function, but it only generates an email form rather than giving readers access to a comment function or discussion board. On the other hand, simply publishing reporters' names and email addresses online puts R&I ahead of many competitors.
CMO, which topped the other nominees in the less-than-80,000-circulation category, is one of my favorite B2B publications. In particular, I like CMO's design both in print and online.
The publication is also unafraid of new media. It has webcasts, RSS feeds and staff-written blogs .
Most importantly -- and I can't emphasize this enough -- CMO understands the new culture of journalism in a way that is still very rare in the B2B world. Take a look at the right-hand side of this page. Those are links to CMO's new media rivals and competitors. Few trade publishers have enough faith in their own products to provide such links. Even fewer trade publishers are willing to abandon the myth that they are the only voice in their industry. CMO, however, recognizes that it is part of a conversation. That's particularly valuable for a magazine that covers the marketing industry, where powerful online voices such as Corante's BrandShift have arisen.

Immersion journalism and spatial annotation

My idea about immersion journalism -- in which "users" retrieve a story with cellphones and PDAs by following visual prompts in the real world -- received a little bit of attention. Check out what the Poynter Institute's Steve Outing said here. And if you can read Italian, take a look here.
My posts on the subject, which focused on the role that technologies such as Grafedia could play in this new form of storytelling, also generated a few emails. One of which pointed out that the idea of footnoting or hyperlinking the real world is part of a larger movement in art called spatial annotation.
Check out this site for some thought-provoking examples.

Topic channels planned for Folio, Event Marketer

Red 7 Media will soon launch new Web-based, editorial products for two of its B2B magazines -- Folio and Event Marketer.
Both publications are planning topic-specific channels that cover niche areas in their industries. There's much to be said in favor of the move. I tend to think that there's growth to be found in B2B publishing by drilling down to serve smaller niche areas.
Also of note is that the new channels will feature RSS feeds. That's a first for Red 7. And in the era of information overload, topic-specific RSS feeds are the way an ever-growing number of people prefer to get news.
Event Marketer has a list of its channels here. You'll be asked to register for the site before you can proceed to the 34 topics such a "tents" and exhibit design." But as of last night, most of the channels were empty and still "under development."
One of the few channels that is functioning covers "experiential marketing." Take a look.
If you're anything like me, you'll find there's something about the product that feels inappropriate.
The channel's sponsor is Polaroid, and the company is getting some nice play for its money. Polaroid's logo appears directly under the channel name. The description of the channel has copy that sounds like it came from Texaco Star Theater or one of those other 1950s variety shows. "Welcome to the Experiential Marketing Channels page, brought to you by Polaroid Corp." Polaroid also gets an ad in the upper left-hand corner and an "About Polaroid" section on the left side that lists how the company can help at events. Polaroid's name and logo are also featured in two white papers available for download on the channel.
As a reader, that sort of advertising overkill makes me suspicious.
As a journalist, what is most disturbing to me is that the channel hasn't drawn a clear line between advertising and editorial copy.
The channel has two articles sections. One is written by Events Marketer's staff. The other says it is "sponsored by Polaroid," but that is misleading. The section isn't just "sponsored by" Polaroid; the section contains articles seemingly written by the company's public relations staff.
Click on either type of story and the articles appear in nearly identical templates. The font is the same. The ads are the same. The color and layout are the same. The only difference is that the Polaroid-provided articles carry a small disclaimer that they are "sponsored by Polaroid."
That's a clear departure from the ethics guidelines set by American Business Media, which say the "layout, design, typeface and style of special advertising sections or custom publishing products must be distinctly different from those of the publication."
Although I suppose it's possible that people in the events industry may not care about such things, I don't think readers of Folio -- a magazine about the magazine world -- will accept such a blurring of the ethical line.
I like Red 7 Media. I like its publications. I know and respect the company's executives and journalists. Perhaps that's why I'm so troubled by this. I expect more from Red 7. I certainly expect more from Folio, which I see as a leader in the publishing world.
I don't know yet what Folio's channels will look like. There's nothing on the site about the channels project. Perhaps Red 7 has a better plan for Folio. I hope so. I hope, too, that someone at the company will rethink the Events Marketer channels.

Is something going on at Reed Business?

There have been a number of changes in editorial at Reed Business of late.
Variety reports that Marianne Paskowski "is stepping down in mid-July as VP of editorial development and editor-in-chief of Multichannel News." Folio reports that "Chemical Market Reporter laid off six editorial staffers last week, including editor-in-chief Helga Tilton and executive editor Patricia van Arnem."
I spoke to a few folks at Reed who tell me the changes are coincidences and not evidence of plans for companywide layoffs or restructurings.
Nonetheless, I'd be a little worried if I was at Reed.
ADDENDUM: I've received an anonymous email that tells me Reed Business is adding staff, despite the recent layoffs and resignation. The writer points toward the mediabistro job listings, which has two recent ads from Reed for senior editors.

A look at B2B history

BtoB Magazine has a special five-year anniversary issue (the anniversary was actually in March, but let's not quibble) that has some fantastic stuff about the craziness in our industry during the past few years.
If nothing else, a look through the issue refreshed my memory. For example, in a discussion about the nearly forgotten concept of the "e-hub," BtoB talks about Covisent, which hoped to be the online marketplace for the auto industry. There was a period of about four weeks in my life at Primedia Business when we were obsessed with Covisent. Our plan was to provide news and information for the site. We came close to a deal, but we never closed on the sale.
Remarkably, I had forgotten all about that until I read the BtoB issue.
Look, there's some fun stuff here, including a column by usability guru Jakob Nielsen.
But if you do nothing else, take a look at the column by Rance Crain, who seems to share my worries about the growing influence of Wall Street investment firms in trade publishing.

Trouble with sale of Primedia Business

Now that potential buyers have done their due diligence and gotten a good look at Primedia Business, the sale of the company may be in some trouble. Folio magazine reports that the folks who had been interested in buying the unit aren't so interested anymore.
According to Folio, part of the reason is "a perceived loss of experienced management" at Primedia Business. The article quotes one source who says “There is so much legacy knowledge and relationships that left.” That same source complains that “there doesn’t seem to be a coherent strategy.”
No kidding.
I think it's been pretty clear to anyone who even glanced in Primedia's direction that things have been a nightmare for ages. (FULL DISCLOSURE: I'm the former vice president for online content at Primedia Business.) Primedia's owner -- the private investment firm KKR -- knows a hell of a lot about money, but doesn't know much at all about business or people.
The result was that quality products that had been run at a profit for years fell under constant pressure to reduce costs and "grow" revenue. It was akin to inheriting a fine piece of farmland that had fed the family for generations, reducing the flow of water to the crops and demanding that the earth yield more corn.
At Primedia Business, the land turned barren. There were endless rounds of layoffs. Products were bought, run into the ground and then closed. Good magazines and good workers were hurt. A lot of talented people got pushed out the door. A lot of others fled.
Nonetheless, there is still value at Primedia Business. The company still has some good journalists. There are even a few talented executives who survived.
I promise you this: whoever buys the company will be pleased with it. There's nowhere to go but up. And I assure you that the place is crawling with people who want a chance to work for someone other than KKR.

More on immersion journalism with Grafedia

I guess I'm not the only person to think that Grafedia -- which brings the idea of hypertext into the real world -- has potential as a journalism tool.

I received an email from John Geraci, the man who invented Grafedia, saying much the same.
"That's exactly the sort of thing I envisioned when I started Grafedia," John said. "But it's hard to find someone to take on a project like this, and the ordinary people who come to the site and try Grafedia out don't seem inclined toward that sort of thing."
Well I'd like to think that the readers of this blog aren't ordinary people. And I suspect that someone will pick up on the idea of immersion journalism.
For B2B journalists, the easiest immersion story would involve a trade show. Visitors to the show could use cellphones and email devices to access stories about companies at the show, find product reviews, retrieve video interviews with company executives, etc.
But I think my friends at College Media Advisers may find more complex and interesting concepts to explore through immersion journalism.
For example, imagine that a historic and well-loved school building in your town was slated for conversion into apartments. Story "users" -- we can't really call them "readers" -- could wander through the building. Grafedia could direct them to photos in context -- showing what the room they stand in used to look like. Grafedia could also point users to audio files of children in the playground, to videos of a school basketball game, and give directions to the home of a nearby elderly person willing to share his memories with visitors.
Or imagine that it's budget season. Some social-service agencies in your community will be getting an increase in funds. Others are slated for cutbacks. An immersion story could lead users through your town as they visited agencies, listened to interviews and met with politicians, agency workers and clients.
I can imagine dozens of such stories. I'm sure you can as well.
People who couldn't "visit" the immersion story could visit a Web site with a simpler multimedia version with many of the same components.
Not only could immersion stories prove to be remarkably moving and effective pieces of journalism, they would be a fantastic way to teach multimedia skills to journalism students.
What do you think?

Looking at digital editions

A press release in my inbox tells me that PennWell will begin publishing digital editions of four B2B magazines -- Laser Focus World, Cabling Installation & Maintenance, Industrial Laser Solutions and Vision Systems Design -- through Texterity.
And a quick visit to Texterity's site shows me the company has collected a slew of customers for its service of rendering print editions into pdf-like versions for the Web.
I've said that I'm not crazy about digital magazines. I prefer that people repurpose their content for the interactive medium of the Web. Nonetheless, publishers do seem to like these things. And now it's possible to get audited numbers for digital editions. So I suspect the popularity of these products will grow.
Given that, I have to say that I prefer the products created by NXTBook to those of Texterity. I just really like that audio file of a page being turned when I move through the "magazine."

Creating immersion stories with Grafedia

In Brooklyn, where I live, it's not unusual to come across cryptic graffiti written in blue. To the artists, hipsters and others familiar with system, the graffiti is meant to mimic the hyperlinks of the Web. It's part of an emerging multimedia tool called Grafedia. If you send a message to the web address in the graffiti, you get back a message that is somehow related to the place the graffiti appeared.
For a better explanation, check out this article by the Associated Press.
I have a sense that Grafedia has potential as a tool to create a new form of journalism -- immersion stories. Imagine a feature article that requires readers to participate physically in retrieving information. Readers could wander through a place related to a story -- the area around the World Trade Center in New York, a state capitol building, a park or a tradeshow. When readers come across Grafedia, they type the address into their cell phones, send a text message, and retrieve more of the story. It would be possible to use Grafedia to point the audience to human sources that they could interview themselves. The messages sent via Grafedia could include videos, background music or narration (similar to a tape-recorded walking tour.) As far as I know, no one has created a story with such interactivity. But I'm willing to predict that someone will soon. The power of linking the multimedia world with the real world is too powerful to ignore.