Next week I'll be in suburban Boston to speak to reporters and editors from Reed Business about online journalism. It should be an exciting day. Because as outlined in an article in BtoB Magazine, Reed Business is in the process of revamping itself into a Web-first company.
The move comes less than a year after Tad Smith assumed the helm at Reed, which I said then was "further proof that our jobs are becoming less about print and more about multimedia."
More importantly, the creation of the new Reed Business Interactive unit this summer coincides with a widespread improvement in how Reed's journalists work online.
If you've been following things at Reed in recent months you've seen more multimedia content, more news in front of the firewalls, and a general sense of commitment to the Web -- particularly at the company's Electronics and Media publications.
Take a look at the BtoB article and see how Reed is revamping. But don't make the mistake of assuming that creating a "centralized Internet division" will work for your publishing company just because it seems to be working quite well for Reed.
The BtoB article mentions two other trade publishing giants with separate Web divisions -- Cygnus and PennWell. Cygnus (where I've also done some work) produces some fantastic online properties --notably the award-winning Firehouse.com. But as I've said before in posts such as this and this, no B2B publisher seems to do a worse job on the Web than PennWell.
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Saturday, September 02, 2006
The lessons of Danny Sullivan
I am not a search-engine expert.
But I know a fair amount about search-engine optimization. I can hold my own in a conversation on the topic. I can help editors improve their search results. I can teach a little bit about writing headlines and title tags and such so that Google and the rest of the engines will rank a site highly.
And everything I know about search engines I owe to one guy -- Danny Sullivan.
And I have never even met him.
Danny is the genius behind Incisive Media's "Search Engine Watch." And last week he announced he was leaving the company because he and Incisive could not reach an agreement on compensation.
The news hit the search-engine world hard. No one -- NO ONE -- is more important than Danny in the search industry. And everyone seems perplexed that Incisive would let him go, including Danny, who was quoted as saying "I can't understand why [Incisive Media] would expect me to stay with them if they can't give me a long term incentive to build their business."
Longtime readers of this blog know that I've been warning B2B publishers for quite some time that they are vulnerable to competition from their own staff. The anyone-can-be-a-publisher software used by bloggers means that key editorial people no longer need their magazines. I've predicted a rise in entrepreneurial journalists -- most of them the key editors that become synonymous with a magazine's brand. I've predicted that they will quit their jobs -- or, more likely, accept early retirement -- and start running their own online publications, usually concentrating on a very small niche.
In a sense, Danny is the perfect example of what I've been talking about.
At the same time, Danny is an extreme case. He's already been an entrepreneurial journalist. He actually co-founded "Search Engine Watch" in 1996 and sold it to Jupitermedia a year later. But Jupitermedia knew that what it was really buying was Danny. And things went smoothly until Jupitermedia sold "Search Engine Watch" to Incisive last year.
So what's the lesson here?
If you're a B2B publisher I would urge you to look long and hard at the folks in your newsroom. In particular, look at that guy who has been around forever, the guy everyone in the industry you cover knows, the guy that "is" your publication.
And then ask yourself, and ask yourself honestly -- am I too dependent on him? am I doing enough to keep him? what do I do when he quits?
For more on Danny's departure, take a look here or here.
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media, entrepreneurial journalism, standalone journalism
But I know a fair amount about search-engine optimization. I can hold my own in a conversation on the topic. I can help editors improve their search results. I can teach a little bit about writing headlines and title tags and such so that Google and the rest of the engines will rank a site highly.
And everything I know about search engines I owe to one guy -- Danny Sullivan.
And I have never even met him.
Danny is the genius behind Incisive Media's "Search Engine Watch." And last week he announced he was leaving the company because he and Incisive could not reach an agreement on compensation.
The news hit the search-engine world hard. No one -- NO ONE -- is more important than Danny in the search industry. And everyone seems perplexed that Incisive would let him go, including Danny, who was quoted as saying "I can't understand why [Incisive Media] would expect me to stay with them if they can't give me a long term incentive to build their business."
Longtime readers of this blog know that I've been warning B2B publishers for quite some time that they are vulnerable to competition from their own staff. The anyone-can-be-a-publisher software used by bloggers means that key editorial people no longer need their magazines. I've predicted a rise in entrepreneurial journalists -- most of them the key editors that become synonymous with a magazine's brand. I've predicted that they will quit their jobs -- or, more likely, accept early retirement -- and start running their own online publications, usually concentrating on a very small niche.
In a sense, Danny is the perfect example of what I've been talking about.
At the same time, Danny is an extreme case. He's already been an entrepreneurial journalist. He actually co-founded "Search Engine Watch" in 1996 and sold it to Jupitermedia a year later. But Jupitermedia knew that what it was really buying was Danny. And things went smoothly until Jupitermedia sold "Search Engine Watch" to Incisive last year.
So what's the lesson here?
If you're a B2B publisher I would urge you to look long and hard at the folks in your newsroom. In particular, look at that guy who has been around forever, the guy everyone in the industry you cover knows, the guy that "is" your publication.
And then ask yourself, and ask yourself honestly -- am I too dependent on him? am I doing enough to keep him? what do I do when he quits?
For more on Danny's departure, take a look here or here.
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media, entrepreneurial journalism, standalone journalism
Thursday, August 24, 2006
New sites about student journalism
One of my favorite new bloggers is Ryan Sholin, who writes about his experiences as a journalism student. What I like most about Ryan is that he seems genuinely excited by this profession. And unlike so many people I meet in newsrooms, he seems interested in learning how to get better at his trade.
Take a look at this post or this or this funny little one to get a feel for his work.
Yesterday Ryan pointed me toward a site that may become another of my favorites -- campusbyline, a two-man operation that aims to highlight the best in college media. And as I took a look through it, I came across this post about the Princeton Review's rankings of college newspapers.
That post links to a related article in the University of Arizona's student newspaper, and suggests a link between the article's writer and a source quoted in the story. That raises an all-new ethics question for me: Should a journalist disclose that a source is a "friend" on a social-networking site? My gut instinct is to err on the side of transparency and say "yes." But I'll be curious to see what other folks say.
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media, journalism education
Take a look at this post or this or this funny little one to get a feel for his work.
Yesterday Ryan pointed me toward a site that may become another of my favorites -- campusbyline, a two-man operation that aims to highlight the best in college media. And as I took a look through it, I came across this post about the Princeton Review's rankings of college newspapers.
That post links to a related article in the University of Arizona's student newspaper, and suggests a link between the article's writer and a source quoted in the story. That raises an all-new ethics question for me: Should a journalist disclose that a source is a "friend" on a social-networking site? My gut instinct is to err on the side of transparency and say "yes." But I'll be curious to see what other folks say.
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media, journalism education
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Crain gets link religion
It seems Crain Communications has decided that its Web sites are, in fact, part of the Web. The company has begun using external links in its articles.
I'm thrilled. And heck, I'll even take credit for the change, since I've been complaining about Crain's lack of interactivity for a long time and recently pointed out the disconnect between the public statements of the company's president and the practices of the company's editorial staff.
I first noticed a link in BtoB online in a story that ran yesterday. Now granted, the link is sort of an obvious choice. The story is about a new Web site, and the link takes readers to that site. But it's exactly that sort of no-brainer link that Crain has resisted in the past.
I dropped an email to Ellis Booker, editor of BtoB, and asked what prompted the change.
"We're re-tooling the site & some of our approaches," he said in reply.
And it looks like this re-tooling is also happening at another Crain site. This morning I noticed hypertext links in this story from Investment News. That too is a first. Unfortunately, at the time I publish this post it seems that no one at Investment News has yet noticed that the entire last 10 paragraphs of the story contain a single link, turning half the text on the page the color red. But I'll write that off to inexperience. More disappointing is that the link is internal. But at least it's a start. Besides, Investment News has bigger problems.
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media
I'm thrilled. And heck, I'll even take credit for the change, since I've been complaining about Crain's lack of interactivity for a long time and recently pointed out the disconnect between the public statements of the company's president and the practices of the company's editorial staff.
I first noticed a link in BtoB online in a story that ran yesterday. Now granted, the link is sort of an obvious choice. The story is about a new Web site, and the link takes readers to that site. But it's exactly that sort of no-brainer link that Crain has resisted in the past.
I dropped an email to Ellis Booker, editor of BtoB, and asked what prompted the change.
"We're re-tooling the site & some of our approaches," he said in reply.
And it looks like this re-tooling is also happening at another Crain site. This morning I noticed hypertext links in this story from Investment News. That too is a first. Unfortunately, at the time I publish this post it seems that no one at Investment News has yet noticed that the entire last 10 paragraphs of the story contain a single link, turning half the text on the page the color red. But I'll write that off to inexperience. More disappointing is that the link is internal. But at least it's a start. Besides, Investment News has bigger problems.
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media
Monday, August 21, 2006
Teachers, textbooks and new media
What happens when two of the smarter folks in college journalism get together? They publish a Q&A that serves as a quick guide to what's wrong with much of the media ... both inside and outside of academia.
They also wind up prompting me to do something that I've been promising to do for ages -- buy Mindy McAdams' book "Flash Journalism."
With a little bit of luck, I'll have finished reading it before the Folio Show in October, where I'll be talking about becoming "conversant in the ways of multimedia content."
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media, journalism education
They also wind up prompting me to do something that I've been promising to do for ages -- buy Mindy McAdams' book "Flash Journalism."
With a little bit of luck, I'll have finished reading it before the Folio Show in October, where I'll be talking about becoming "conversant in the ways of multimedia content."
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media, journalism education
Friday, August 18, 2006
Me, Folio and the cross-platform editor
I'm back from my trip to Chicago, trying to catch up with life, work and family. And among the things I did today was to go through the mail that had piled up on my desk in my absence. And lo and behold I find that the most recent issue of Folio has arrived, and that I'm quoted in an article about "The Cross Platform Editor."
Take a look at the Folio article. It's a pretty comprehensive take on what editors must do to work in new media. And I was thrilled to see that writer Bill Mickey cited my two favorite how-can-I-learn-to-do-that sites -- j-learning.org (which is free) and Lynda.com (which is inexpensive.)
Even more fun for me is that the article refers to an "infamous blog entry" I did earlier this year on the subject. (That post, titled "Improving your publication through murder" can be found here.)
But don't spend too much time on any of the above. There's something far more important in the August issue of Folio -- the annual salary survey. Take a look and decide if it's time to ask the boss for a raise.
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media
Take a look at the Folio article. It's a pretty comprehensive take on what editors must do to work in new media. And I was thrilled to see that writer Bill Mickey cited my two favorite how-can-I-learn-to-do-that sites -- j-learning.org (which is free) and Lynda.com (which is inexpensive.)
Even more fun for me is that the article refers to an "infamous blog entry" I did earlier this year on the subject. (That post, titled "Improving your publication through murder" can be found here.)
But don't spend too much time on any of the above. There's something far more important in the August issue of Folio -- the annual salary survey. Take a look and decide if it's time to ask the boss for a raise.
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media
Friday, August 11, 2006
Why the out-of-touch shouldn't touch the budget
Among the more interesting things I've been reading lately is CJRDaily.org, a wonderfully written (albeit often too snarky) product that is affiliated with, but vastly more entertaining than, the Columbia Journalism Review.
Now comes word that Nick Lemann, dean of Columbia University's Journalism school, has decided to cut the budget of CJRDaily in half. Why? According to the New York Times, Lemann wants to use "a portion of the magazine’s discretionary money for a direct-mail campaign to try to increase subscriptions to the print magazine." CJRDaily is about to launch a plan to sell advertising and sponsor conferences, but Lemann has decided in advance that there won't be enough revenue generated to run the site at full strength.
CJRDaily's managing editor Steve Lovelady quit in protest. So did assistant managing editor Bryan Keefer.
It would be easy to dismiss this as a battle between the old and the young, between mainstream media and new media. But things are seldom that simple. Lovelady is 63-years old and was once the managing editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer and deputy Page 1 editor of The Wall Street Journal.
Now look -- I'm a media junkie. And my primary addiction is to media about media. So I suppose I'm exactly the sort of person that Lemann plans to start bothering with junk mail invites to subscribe to CJR magazine. In fact, I'm pretty sure I get those things already. But I never pay any attention to mailings from CJR. The truth is that I haven't bothered to read an issue of CJR in years. I had a subscription once or twice in my career. And every once in awhile I still come across a copy, open it up and take a look. But the magazine never engages me anymore. It's become less a "review" and more of a retrospective. It has the feel of nostalgia and tends to remind me of Grit, which bills itself as "America's family magazine since 1882" and fills its pages with articles that evoke that things-were-better-in-the-old-days feeling.
And that's why CJRDaily, which feels as if it's written by people who work in journalism rather than by folks who used to work in journalism, is far superior to CJR magazine.
Earlier this week I posted a link to an essay in the New Yorker written by Lemann. I said then that Lemann's piece probably wasn't worth reading, and suggested instead that the criticisms of Lemann's essay were far more interesting than the essay itself.
In fact, an entire industry seems to be emerging online dedicated to unraveling Lemann's thoughts. Take a look at this piece on Businessweek.com that calls the CJRDaily a decision "an extraordinary mistake."
(Note: I'm heading out on the road to meet with clients. I don't expect to post anything to this blog for a week or so. While I'm sitting in airports and such, I'll make a point of looking at CJRDaily to see if it's still worth reading. And I'll check out some of the new sites that have caught my attention in the last few days, including Journalistopia, the D.C. chapter of ASBPE and TalkingBizNews. )
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media
Now comes word that Nick Lemann, dean of Columbia University's Journalism school, has decided to cut the budget of CJRDaily in half. Why? According to the New York Times, Lemann wants to use "a portion of the magazine’s discretionary money for a direct-mail campaign to try to increase subscriptions to the print magazine." CJRDaily is about to launch a plan to sell advertising and sponsor conferences, but Lemann has decided in advance that there won't be enough revenue generated to run the site at full strength.
CJRDaily's managing editor Steve Lovelady quit in protest. So did assistant managing editor Bryan Keefer.
It would be easy to dismiss this as a battle between the old and the young, between mainstream media and new media. But things are seldom that simple. Lovelady is 63-years old and was once the managing editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer and deputy Page 1 editor of The Wall Street Journal.
Now look -- I'm a media junkie. And my primary addiction is to media about media. So I suppose I'm exactly the sort of person that Lemann plans to start bothering with junk mail invites to subscribe to CJR magazine. In fact, I'm pretty sure I get those things already. But I never pay any attention to mailings from CJR. The truth is that I haven't bothered to read an issue of CJR in years. I had a subscription once or twice in my career. And every once in awhile I still come across a copy, open it up and take a look. But the magazine never engages me anymore. It's become less a "review" and more of a retrospective. It has the feel of nostalgia and tends to remind me of Grit, which bills itself as "America's family magazine since 1882" and fills its pages with articles that evoke that things-were-better-in-the-old-days feeling.
And that's why CJRDaily, which feels as if it's written by people who work in journalism rather than by folks who used to work in journalism, is far superior to CJR magazine.
Earlier this week I posted a link to an essay in the New Yorker written by Lemann. I said then that Lemann's piece probably wasn't worth reading, and suggested instead that the criticisms of Lemann's essay were far more interesting than the essay itself.
In fact, an entire industry seems to be emerging online dedicated to unraveling Lemann's thoughts. Take a look at this piece on Businessweek.com that calls the CJRDaily a decision "an extraordinary mistake."
(Note: I'm heading out on the road to meet with clients. I don't expect to post anything to this blog for a week or so. While I'm sitting in airports and such, I'll make a point of looking at CJRDaily to see if it's still worth reading. And I'll check out some of the new sites that have caught my attention in the last few days, including Journalistopia, the D.C. chapter of ASBPE and TalkingBizNews. )
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
When technology and I were young
One of the best ... and most frustrating ... days I've had in journalism was 20 years ago this September, when I did some work as a stringer for National Public Radio. President Ronald Reagan was flying into Kansas City to make a campaign speech for Kit Bond, who was running for the U.S. Senate. It wasn't expected to be much of an event, which is why it fell to me, instead of some more established reporter, to cover the arrival of Air Force One at the little airport in downtown Kansas City.
But then, as the plane approached the city, word came that the Soviets would release imprisoned journalist Nicholas Daniloff.
That was huge news. 1986 was a tense time in the Cold War, and the detention of Daniloff had outraged many Americans.
NPR and I slammed together a plan. First, I would record interviews with the crowd, asking them for reactions to Daniloff's release. Then, as the plane landed, I would go live on NPR by phone.
At first, things went smoothly. One of the NPR hosts introduced the story, talked about Reagan's arrival, and then interviewed me. I described the plane as it taxied down the runway. I talked about Daniloff. I talked about the Soviets. I talked about how the crowd was acting. Eventually we switched to the microphone on the podium to hear the President's speech. Later, the host came back on the air to ask me a few more questions. Then he thanked me and I signed off. It was fantastic.
Perhaps for the first time in my life, I felt like a "real" reporter. I was positively giddy from the experience.
But my memory of the event is largely confined to what happened next.
In order to send my interviews to D.C., I had to connect my tape recorder to the pay phone. It was a cumbersome process that involved fitting a strange piece of gray-colored foam rubber over the mouthpiece. But I couldn't get it to work. The sound quality was awful. I'd send it. NPR would say they couldn't hear it. I'd send it again. They still couldn't hear it.
And I struggled and fumbled with this for a long time until -- believe it or not -- a female sergeant based on Air Force One came over with a tool box to help me dismantle the phone and connect the recorder directly with a set of alligator clips.
I thought about the technological struggles of that day -- as primitive as they sound now -- when I read a piece by Folio about a day in the life of an online editor.
Folio followed Kristin Campbell through a hectic workday at B2B publication DSNews as she wrote and edited news for the Web site while also producing and appearing in a video news program. The Folio article tells an interesting story, and Campbell is an endearing source who talks openly about the time and technological challenges of her job.
The Folio story is a worthwhile read for anyone who wonders what life will soon be like for almost everyone in journalism. And what's most heartening about the piece is that Campbell's joy in her job is apparent.
Take a look at the article here.
Then click here to visit DSNews to read and watch the fruits of Campbell's labor.
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media
But then, as the plane approached the city, word came that the Soviets would release imprisoned journalist Nicholas Daniloff.
That was huge news. 1986 was a tense time in the Cold War, and the detention of Daniloff had outraged many Americans.
NPR and I slammed together a plan. First, I would record interviews with the crowd, asking them for reactions to Daniloff's release. Then, as the plane landed, I would go live on NPR by phone.
At first, things went smoothly. One of the NPR hosts introduced the story, talked about Reagan's arrival, and then interviewed me. I described the plane as it taxied down the runway. I talked about Daniloff. I talked about the Soviets. I talked about how the crowd was acting. Eventually we switched to the microphone on the podium to hear the President's speech. Later, the host came back on the air to ask me a few more questions. Then he thanked me and I signed off. It was fantastic.
Perhaps for the first time in my life, I felt like a "real" reporter. I was positively giddy from the experience.
But my memory of the event is largely confined to what happened next.
In order to send my interviews to D.C., I had to connect my tape recorder to the pay phone. It was a cumbersome process that involved fitting a strange piece of gray-colored foam rubber over the mouthpiece. But I couldn't get it to work. The sound quality was awful. I'd send it. NPR would say they couldn't hear it. I'd send it again. They still couldn't hear it.
And I struggled and fumbled with this for a long time until -- believe it or not -- a female sergeant based on Air Force One came over with a tool box to help me dismantle the phone and connect the recorder directly with a set of alligator clips.
I thought about the technological struggles of that day -- as primitive as they sound now -- when I read a piece by Folio about a day in the life of an online editor.
Folio followed Kristin Campbell through a hectic workday at B2B publication DSNews as she wrote and edited news for the Web site while also producing and appearing in a video news program. The Folio article tells an interesting story, and Campbell is an endearing source who talks openly about the time and technological challenges of her job.
The Folio story is a worthwhile read for anyone who wonders what life will soon be like for almost everyone in journalism. And what's most heartening about the piece is that Campbell's joy in her job is apparent.
Take a look at the article here.
Then click here to visit DSNews to read and watch the fruits of Campbell's labor.
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Diverse or creepy?
"What racist imbecile is doing the hiring here?"
That's the question that, as I discussed in a post last November, enters my head whenever I wander into one of the hundreds of all-white newsrooms in B2B publishing.
If you're worried that folks like me believe it "has become positively creepy to visit your newsrooms," then you may want to attend the upcoming seminar called "No More Excuses: The "How to's" for Developing a Multicultural Magazine Staff." The two-hour event, hosted by Magazine Publishers of America and scheduled for Sept. 14 in New York, costs just $30 for members and $45 for non-members.
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media
That's the question that, as I discussed in a post last November, enters my head whenever I wander into one of the hundreds of all-white newsrooms in B2B publishing.
If you're worried that folks like me believe it "has become positively creepy to visit your newsrooms," then you may want to attend the upcoming seminar called "No More Excuses: The "How to's" for Developing a Multicultural Magazine Staff." The two-hour event, hosted by Magazine Publishers of America and scheduled for Sept. 14 in New York, costs just $30 for members and $45 for non-members.
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media
Monday, August 07, 2006
Non-suggested reading
If you have a lot of time on your hands, you could read the piece in the New Yorker criticizing citizen journalism. It's written by Nick Lemann, dean of Columbia University's Journalism school.
But I can't recommend it. There's nothing in it that you haven't seen before.
Instead, I'd suggest that you read Andrew Cline's piece about Lemann's article. Andrew does a great job of dissecting the rhetorical devices in Lemann's piece and how they add up to arrogance.
I'd also suggest that you read what Rebecca Mackinnon says about Lemann's article. She unveils the personal dispute that lurks in the background of Lemann's essay.
And I'd urge you to take a look what Jay Rosen, who works at New York University -- about 100 blocks south and a world away from Lemann -- has to say. No one -- no one -- thinks more clearly than Jay about where citizen journalism came from and where it may be heading.
For some of my thoughts on citizen journalism and B2B, see earlier posts here, here, here and here.
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media
But I can't recommend it. There's nothing in it that you haven't seen before.
Instead, I'd suggest that you read Andrew Cline's piece about Lemann's article. Andrew does a great job of dissecting the rhetorical devices in Lemann's piece and how they add up to arrogance.
I'd also suggest that you read what Rebecca Mackinnon says about Lemann's article. She unveils the personal dispute that lurks in the background of Lemann's essay.
And I'd urge you to take a look what Jay Rosen, who works at New York University -- about 100 blocks south and a world away from Lemann -- has to say. No one -- no one -- thinks more clearly than Jay about where citizen journalism came from and where it may be heading.
For some of my thoughts on citizen journalism and B2B, see earlier posts here, here, here and here.
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
That's ridiculous, according to published reports
Yesterday I wrote about my belief that journalists should embrace the agnostic link -- pointing readers to interesting content no matter where it was published.
And longtime readers of this blog know that time and time again I've complained that some B2B publishers still haven't learned to insert any links, let alone agnostic ones.
Today I want to take this a little further and voice my dismay at an even more annoying practice.
Take a look at this piece in today's Investment News. It talks about a stock index fund that may be of interest to NASCAR fans. Look closely and you'll see that none of the material in the piece appears to be based on any reporting by Investment News. Rather everything in the article is attributed to "published reports."
Now the truth of the matter is this. The story isn't based on "reports" at all. It's based on a single report -- a piece of original reporting by the New York Times' J. Alex Tarquinio.
Now think about that.
I understand that many folks in our industry are afraid to link outside their own sites. I disagree. But I understand. But I absolutely do not understand why a publication would be afraid to attribute something. Lots of us do summaries of other published material. That's a well-established and valuable service that many press outlets offer to their readers.
But what could possibly justify withholding the single most important piece of information about a summary from our readers?
Attribution is one of the ways we let our readers know how much faith they can place in a piece of information. If we publish a sentence that says "'The sky is falling,' according to a guy on the street." We don't expect to be taken seriously. But if we publish something that says "'The sky is falling,' according to the director of the U.S. Weather Service," we're letting our readers know they should start panicking now. The same is true if we publish something that says "'The sky is falling, according to the New York Times, which cited an official with the National Weather Service."
But we're not telling anyone anything when we say "The sky is falling,' according to published reports."
But there is something else worth noting about the "according to published reports" phenomenon. And it is ugly.
The simple, unavoidable fact is that the phrase "according to published reports" is often a lie. If you've read one report and then attributed your story to multiple "reports" you are misleading your audience. It's similar to interviewing one person and then masking your laziness behind the use of the phrase "according to sources." Or publishing an unedited press release and calling it an exclusive news story.
And there is no room in journalism for a lie.
(Note: I singled out Investment News in this post because the use of the phrase "according to published reports" is a veritable plague at that publication. A search for the phrase on the site yields 11670 results. A search for the phrase on Google News yields 1,230 citations...and four of the first 10 are from Investment News. A good portion of those citations actually refer to actual reports, i.e. more than one news story. And sometimes, as in this story, Investment News cites the N.Y. Times or other sources by name. But Investment News routinely uses the phrase "according to published reports" when it's just plain silly to do so. Check out this story from today, which is based on this story from the Atlanta Journal Constitution.)
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media
And longtime readers of this blog know that time and time again I've complained that some B2B publishers still haven't learned to insert any links, let alone agnostic ones.
Today I want to take this a little further and voice my dismay at an even more annoying practice.
Take a look at this piece in today's Investment News. It talks about a stock index fund that may be of interest to NASCAR fans. Look closely and you'll see that none of the material in the piece appears to be based on any reporting by Investment News. Rather everything in the article is attributed to "published reports."
Now the truth of the matter is this. The story isn't based on "reports" at all. It's based on a single report -- a piece of original reporting by the New York Times' J. Alex Tarquinio.
Now think about that.
I understand that many folks in our industry are afraid to link outside their own sites. I disagree. But I understand. But I absolutely do not understand why a publication would be afraid to attribute something. Lots of us do summaries of other published material. That's a well-established and valuable service that many press outlets offer to their readers.
But what could possibly justify withholding the single most important piece of information about a summary from our readers?
Attribution is one of the ways we let our readers know how much faith they can place in a piece of information. If we publish a sentence that says "'The sky is falling,' according to a guy on the street." We don't expect to be taken seriously. But if we publish something that says "'The sky is falling,' according to the director of the U.S. Weather Service," we're letting our readers know they should start panicking now. The same is true if we publish something that says "'The sky is falling, according to the New York Times, which cited an official with the National Weather Service."
But we're not telling anyone anything when we say "The sky is falling,' according to published reports."
But there is something else worth noting about the "according to published reports" phenomenon. And it is ugly.
The simple, unavoidable fact is that the phrase "according to published reports" is often a lie. If you've read one report and then attributed your story to multiple "reports" you are misleading your audience. It's similar to interviewing one person and then masking your laziness behind the use of the phrase "according to sources." Or publishing an unedited press release and calling it an exclusive news story.
And there is no room in journalism for a lie.
(Note: I singled out Investment News in this post because the use of the phrase "according to published reports" is a veritable plague at that publication. A search for the phrase on the site yields 11670 results. A search for the phrase on Google News yields 1,230 citations...and four of the first 10 are from Investment News. A good portion of those citations actually refer to actual reports, i.e. more than one news story. And sometimes, as in this story, Investment News cites the N.Y. Times or other sources by name. But Investment News routinely uses the phrase "according to published reports" when it's just plain silly to do so. Check out this story from today, which is based on this story from the Atlanta Journal Constitution.)
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media
Monday, July 31, 2006
Learning to believe in the agnostic link
Of the subjects I like to discuss with B2B journalists -- ethics, multimedia, writing for the Web, reporting skills, etc. -- nothing causes as much anger as when I talk about "agnostic" hyperlinks. I've been called "stupid" for suggesting that a magazine link to a rival. I've been yelled at, scoffed at and walked out on. I've had myriad eyeballs rolled at me.
And it's all because I believe that journalists have an obligation as journalists to point to information of value no matter where they find it.
Two weeks ago I raised this subject briefly in a presentation to the ASBPE in Chicago in which I urged journalists to become more "blog-like" -- embracing the culture of blogging by becoming more passionate, adding feedback functions and linking outside their own publications. "If your readers should know about it," I said, "link to it -- no matter who published it." And much to my joy and relief, no one threw anything at me.
That could be testimony to the good manners of the folks at ASBPE. Or it could be an indication that attitudes about links are changing. Certainly today's news that the Washington Post has embraced the agnostic link would suggest that the mainstream press has begun to act more blog-like. So perhaps the B2B press will too.
On the other hand, as I noted just a few days ago, some B2B publishers haven't even learned to link anywhere, let alone link to competitors.
For more on the value of linking, read this earlier post.
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media
And it's all because I believe that journalists have an obligation as journalists to point to information of value no matter where they find it.
Two weeks ago I raised this subject briefly in a presentation to the ASBPE in Chicago in which I urged journalists to become more "blog-like" -- embracing the culture of blogging by becoming more passionate, adding feedback functions and linking outside their own publications. "If your readers should know about it," I said, "link to it -- no matter who published it." And much to my joy and relief, no one threw anything at me.
That could be testimony to the good manners of the folks at ASBPE. Or it could be an indication that attitudes about links are changing. Certainly today's news that the Washington Post has embraced the agnostic link would suggest that the mainstream press has begun to act more blog-like. So perhaps the B2B press will too.
On the other hand, as I noted just a few days ago, some B2B publishers haven't even learned to link anywhere, let alone link to competitors.
For more on the value of linking, read this earlier post.
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media
Thursday, July 27, 2006
How your Web site will look in the near future
Earlier today I downloaded the beta version of Internet Explorer 7, the next generation of Web browsers from Microsoft.
And after a just a few minutes of playing around, I can tell you that Version 7 is far superior to earlier versions. And that shouldn't be a surprise. Version 7's primary purpose seems to be duplicating the features and functions that made Mozilla's Firefox browser so superior to IE.
Longtime readers of this blog know that I'm a big fan of Firefox. And it seems that the developers at Microsoft are too. The new IE comes complete with the two most interesting features of Firefox -- tabbed browsing, which lets you look at multiple Web sites in a single window, and built-in RSS capability.
Why should you care? Think about this: as great as Firefox is, and as quickly as it has grown, its market share remains small. But Microsoft's IE is the king of the browser world. It won't always be that way, I'm sure. Things are changing quickly, and new user interfaces are coming. But until that day arrives, IE rules. So sometime in the next few months, IE 7 will become the way readers experience your online products. And you need to know what that will mean.
Download IE 7 today. You can do so here.
Take a look at how your site and the sites of your rivals look. One interesting feature of IE 7 is that the interface is smaller -- allowing users to see more of the Web pages they visit. Your Web designers should be considering what that means for your pages.
Then take a look at the little RSS icon that appears in the upper right hand corner of the browser. If the site you visit has an RSS feed, the icon will light up in orange. If not, the icon remains a dull gray. (Don't have an RSS feed yet? Perhaps that hasn't been a problem so far. But RSS is a superior experience for users. And billions of computer users are about to find that out. So trust me on this -- when IE 7 starts appearing on desktops around the globe, you don't want to be the only publication in your space that users can't access through RSS.)
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media
And after a just a few minutes of playing around, I can tell you that Version 7 is far superior to earlier versions. And that shouldn't be a surprise. Version 7's primary purpose seems to be duplicating the features and functions that made Mozilla's Firefox browser so superior to IE.
Longtime readers of this blog know that I'm a big fan of Firefox. And it seems that the developers at Microsoft are too. The new IE comes complete with the two most interesting features of Firefox -- tabbed browsing, which lets you look at multiple Web sites in a single window, and built-in RSS capability.
Why should you care? Think about this: as great as Firefox is, and as quickly as it has grown, its market share remains small. But Microsoft's IE is the king of the browser world. It won't always be that way, I'm sure. Things are changing quickly, and new user interfaces are coming. But until that day arrives, IE rules. So sometime in the next few months, IE 7 will become the way readers experience your online products. And you need to know what that will mean.
Download IE 7 today. You can do so here.
Take a look at how your site and the sites of your rivals look. One interesting feature of IE 7 is that the interface is smaller -- allowing users to see more of the Web pages they visit. Your Web designers should be considering what that means for your pages.
Then take a look at the little RSS icon that appears in the upper right hand corner of the browser. If the site you visit has an RSS feed, the icon will light up in orange. If not, the icon remains a dull gray. (Don't have an RSS feed yet? Perhaps that hasn't been a problem so far. But RSS is a superior experience for users. And billions of computer users are about to find that out. So trust me on this -- when IE 7 starts appearing on desktops around the globe, you don't want to be the only publication in your space that users can't access through RSS.)
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Magazines of the year
I'm back from the ASBPE Editorial Conference in Chicago, where I had the good fortune to meet with some of the smarter, nicer and more interesting folks in our business.
While I was there, ASBPE announced the winners of its annual "Magazine of the Year" awards. And it was no surprise to me that both winners were IDG products -- Computerworld and CSO.
Longtime readers of this blog know that I'm a fan of much of what IDG does (DISCLOSURE: IDG is a client of mine.) And both Computerworld and CSO are truly wonderful publications in both print and online. I'm particularly impressed by how both publications have navigated the new media world. Although the designs of both sites are a little too cluttered for my tastes, Computerworld and CSO have a little bit of everything that makes for compelling online content -- graphics, feedback, podcasts, interactive tools, webcasts and hyperlinks. Congratulations to all involved.
For more on this year's winners, check out the blog of the Boston chapter of the ASBPE, which is run by my friend and ASBPE co-panelist Martha Spizziri (we served on a panel about blogging.) For more on this year's conference, take a look at the blog of my other friend and co-panelist, David Shaw.
You may also want to check out BtoB magazine's coverage of the keynote speech by Rance Crain, in which he calls for editors to stop looking across the "digital divide with fear and trepidation."
It's worth remarking that Rance is the president and editorial director of Crain Communications, owner of BtoB magazine. And although Rance seems to embrace new media, BtoB magazine still struggles with the most basic of new-media concepts. There's not a single link in the story about Rance. Nor, for that matter, is there a single link in any BtoB story. And as I've mentioned before, I find that's a common shortcoming at Crain publications.)
For more on why publications should link, take a look at this post at Reinventing College Media.
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media
While I was there, ASBPE announced the winners of its annual "Magazine of the Year" awards. And it was no surprise to me that both winners were IDG products -- Computerworld and CSO.
Longtime readers of this blog know that I'm a fan of much of what IDG does (DISCLOSURE: IDG is a client of mine.) And both Computerworld and CSO are truly wonderful publications in both print and online. I'm particularly impressed by how both publications have navigated the new media world. Although the designs of both sites are a little too cluttered for my tastes, Computerworld and CSO have a little bit of everything that makes for compelling online content -- graphics, feedback, podcasts, interactive tools, webcasts and hyperlinks. Congratulations to all involved.
For more on this year's winners, check out the blog of the Boston chapter of the ASBPE, which is run by my friend and ASBPE co-panelist Martha Spizziri (we served on a panel about blogging.) For more on this year's conference, take a look at the blog of my other friend and co-panelist, David Shaw.
You may also want to check out BtoB magazine's coverage of the keynote speech by Rance Crain, in which he calls for editors to stop looking across the "digital divide with fear and trepidation."
It's worth remarking that Rance is the president and editorial director of Crain Communications, owner of BtoB magazine. And although Rance seems to embrace new media, BtoB magazine still struggles with the most basic of new-media concepts. There's not a single link in the story about Rance. Nor, for that matter, is there a single link in any BtoB story. And as I've mentioned before, I find that's a common shortcoming at Crain publications.)
For more on why publications should link, take a look at this post at Reinventing College Media.
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media
Monday, July 24, 2006
Personalities for journalism, business
Longtime readers of this blog know that I've been predicting a surge in new businesses launched by established journalists. Now the New York Times has made note of the phenomenon.
The Times piece has its flaws. There's no mention, for example, of what role easy-to-use blogging software is playing. But there are some interesting insights here, particularly that business journalists tend to be "risk-averse."
The Times article focuses on Nina Munk, a former writer for Fortune and a stereotypically neurotic journalist "filled with self-doubt" who became "acutely aware of the personality traits required for success in business."
Take a look at the Times article here.
Then, before you launch your own business, take a Myers-Briggs test and spend a little time learning about the strength and flaws of your own personality type. I, for example, am an ENFJ. We are communicators and teachers by nature. There are lots of us in journalism. And we tend to have a "longing for the perfect" and to "experience some degree of restlessness" in our jobs. And although we can excel at any "people-to-people occupation," we tend to have problems with accounting (which explains why the biggest challenge I face in my business is balancing the checkbook.)
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, entrepreneurial journalism, standalone journalism
The Times piece has its flaws. There's no mention, for example, of what role easy-to-use blogging software is playing. But there are some interesting insights here, particularly that business journalists tend to be "risk-averse."
The Times article focuses on Nina Munk, a former writer for Fortune and a stereotypically neurotic journalist "filled with self-doubt" who became "acutely aware of the personality traits required for success in business."
Take a look at the Times article here.
Then, before you launch your own business, take a Myers-Briggs test and spend a little time learning about the strength and flaws of your own personality type. I, for example, am an ENFJ. We are communicators and teachers by nature. There are lots of us in journalism. And we tend to have a "longing for the perfect" and to "experience some degree of restlessness" in our jobs. And although we can excel at any "people-to-people occupation," we tend to have problems with accounting (which explains why the biggest challenge I face in my business is balancing the checkbook.)
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, entrepreneurial journalism, standalone journalism
Monday, July 17, 2006
Journalists and poets
I enjoyed reading the interview in CJR Daily with Priscilla Long, the writer who won this year's National Magazine Award for feature writing. There are some wonderful ideas in the piece -- particularly that journalists could benefit from reading poetry.
Yet I hesitated to link to the interview.
My concern -- born of experience -- is that the writers most interested in producing stories that read like poetry are seldom talented enough to do so. The result is too many magazines with too many awful stories by reporters in love with their own tortured prose.
And I don't want to link to anything that could possibly lead to more overwritten stories.
Yet there are those few journalists ... gifted, open to learning ... who can be taught to write like poets. And to them, I say, read this interview.
(I'd like to link to Long's award-winning essay, "Genome Tome," which appeared in the American Scholar. But it's not available online.)
For an earlier post of mine on poetry, click here.
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media
Yet I hesitated to link to the interview.
My concern -- born of experience -- is that the writers most interested in producing stories that read like poetry are seldom talented enough to do so. The result is too many magazines with too many awful stories by reporters in love with their own tortured prose.
And I don't want to link to anything that could possibly lead to more overwritten stories.
Yet there are those few journalists ... gifted, open to learning ... who can be taught to write like poets. And to them, I say, read this interview.
(I'd like to link to Long's award-winning essay, "Genome Tome," which appeared in the American Scholar. But it's not available online.)
For an earlier post of mine on poetry, click here.
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Looking at online video
I'd be hard-pressed to think of a style of content that has grown as quickly as short-form video. YouTube is certainly the most interesting company in the space, but new competitors are emerging.
But despite the enormous popularity of short-form clips online, few B2B publishers have offering video on their sites. There are exceptions -- mostly the larger players that cover the media business such as Variety and AdWeek.
If you're thinking about online video, or if you already offer some on your site, take a look at this commentary from MediaPost. It does a pretty good job of explaining what not to do.
For an earlier post about online video, click here.
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media
But despite the enormous popularity of short-form clips online, few B2B publishers have offering video on their sites. There are exceptions -- mostly the larger players that cover the media business such as Variety and AdWeek.
If you're thinking about online video, or if you already offer some on your site, take a look at this commentary from MediaPost. It does a pretty good job of explaining what not to do.
For an earlier post about online video, click here.
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Sources as competitors
There's no doubt in my mind that the greatest challenge traditional publishers face from blogging is that news sources can now be news competitors -- producing compelling content at little cost.
And it seems that most every day I find someone else who has found his voice ... and found a way to bypass the traditional press.
Take a look at this site, written by an employee at Birds Eye, about the pea harvest.
Or take a look at this blog about the beer industry from Miller Brewing.
I've written about this phenomenon before in posts such as this. And it was a year ago this month that I predicted a "surge in B2B news produced by B2B news sources."
And that has turned out to be one of the most accurate predictions I've ever made.
Yet many of the B2B journalists and publishers I run into seem unconcerned. They believe that something -- tradition, brand name, familiarity -- makes them a more trusted source of information than any non-media company can be.
That's a mistake.
In a world where anyone can be a publisher, it's time to rethink our mission, our role and our business plans.
For more on this subject, check out what my friend Chuck has to say about the Miller Brewing blog.
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, conversational media, business media, entrepreneurial journalism, standalone journalism
And it seems that most every day I find someone else who has found his voice ... and found a way to bypass the traditional press.
Take a look at this site, written by an employee at Birds Eye, about the pea harvest.
Or take a look at this blog about the beer industry from Miller Brewing.
I've written about this phenomenon before in posts such as this. And it was a year ago this month that I predicted a "surge in B2B news produced by B2B news sources."
And that has turned out to be one of the most accurate predictions I've ever made.
Yet many of the B2B journalists and publishers I run into seem unconcerned. They believe that something -- tradition, brand name, familiarity -- makes them a more trusted source of information than any non-media company can be.
That's a mistake.
In a world where anyone can be a publisher, it's time to rethink our mission, our role and our business plans.
For more on this subject, check out what my friend Chuck has to say about the Miller Brewing blog.
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, conversational media, business media, entrepreneurial journalism, standalone journalism
Monday, July 10, 2006
Complaints and compliments
Now this is the sort of complaint I wouldn't mind hearing more of. Folio magazine's Tony Silber is upset that I don't publish this blog more often. It would seem that Tony thinks this blog (and one written by my friend David Shaw) are "excellent" but "way too infrequent."
I'll admit to having fallen behind in my productivity of late. Heck, I'll admit to having fallen behind in everything. Since the birth of my daughter a few weeks ago, I sometimes go the entire day without even washing my face. I'm learning the hard way that 47 is far too old to be a first-time father. So I wasn't even aware of Tony's remarks until my friend and fellow blogger Matt Mullen posted a comment to this blog to tell me about it. (It was Matt who graciously suggested that I could take an infrequency "complaint as a compliment, i.e. readers actually read your stuff and want to see more." And I decided to adopt Matt's glass-half-full interpretation.)
So what is the frequency of this blog? and does it matter?
A quick look at my publishing software shows that I've posted an average of 17 items a month to this blog since it began in late 2004. That's a pretty decent level of productivity, I figure. But those numbers have dropped considerably in recent weeks. In May I posted only nine items. In June I posted only seven.
Now I can argue that quality is more important than quantity in blogging. And some of the items in recent weeks have been pretty good, if I do say so myself. But user stats don't lie, and it's clear that the drop in frequency has an impact -- page views in the second quarter were 15.4% lower than in the first quarter.
David, Martha Spizziri and I will be speaking about blogging next week at the ASBPE National Conference. I'm sure that frequency will be among the topics we'll address.
In the meantime, I'm going to have to face one key fact -- I have too much going on these days. Something is going to have to give. But I promise it won't be this blog.
For David's reaction to the Folio piece, click here.
To see what Rex, who has no problems with frequency, said, click here.
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media
I'll admit to having fallen behind in my productivity of late. Heck, I'll admit to having fallen behind in everything. Since the birth of my daughter a few weeks ago, I sometimes go the entire day without even washing my face. I'm learning the hard way that 47 is far too old to be a first-time father. So I wasn't even aware of Tony's remarks until my friend and fellow blogger Matt Mullen posted a comment to this blog to tell me about it. (It was Matt who graciously suggested that I could take an infrequency "complaint as a compliment, i.e. readers actually read your stuff and want to see more." And I decided to adopt Matt's glass-half-full interpretation.)
So what is the frequency of this blog? and does it matter?
A quick look at my publishing software shows that I've posted an average of 17 items a month to this blog since it began in late 2004. That's a pretty decent level of productivity, I figure. But those numbers have dropped considerably in recent weeks. In May I posted only nine items. In June I posted only seven.
Now I can argue that quality is more important than quantity in blogging. And some of the items in recent weeks have been pretty good, if I do say so myself. But user stats don't lie, and it's clear that the drop in frequency has an impact -- page views in the second quarter were 15.4% lower than in the first quarter.
David, Martha Spizziri and I will be speaking about blogging next week at the ASBPE National Conference. I'm sure that frequency will be among the topics we'll address.
In the meantime, I'm going to have to face one key fact -- I have too much going on these days. Something is going to have to give. But I promise it won't be this blog.
For David's reaction to the Folio piece, click here.
To see what Rex, who has no problems with frequency, said, click here.
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Even more congratulations are in order
Just a few hours after offering my congratulations to the B2B magazines that picked up nominations for ASBPE's Magazine of the Year awards, I find it's time to pat a few more folks on the back.
Trade, Association and Business Publications International, known as TABPI, has announced the winners of its 2006 Tabbie Awards.
Take a look at the complete list of winners here. And note that many of the publications that picked up a Tabbie -- Computerworld, Builder, CIO Decisions, etc. -- are also finalists for ASBPE's awards.
My congratulations to everyone involved.
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media
Trade, Association and Business Publications International, known as TABPI, has announced the winners of its 2006 Tabbie Awards.
Take a look at the complete list of winners here. And note that many of the publications that picked up a Tabbie -- Computerworld, Builder, CIO Decisions, etc. -- are also finalists for ASBPE's awards.
My congratulations to everyone involved.
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media
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