ABM, Folio and the rants of a single malcontent

The I-hate-the-ABM-blog controversy has been fun. And it has been good for page views (mine and theirs.) And there seems to be no end in sight to the craziness.
Here's the latest:
Last night Folio published an article about the disappointment that many of us have experienced with MediaPace.
But shortly thereafter, and much to my pleasure, Rex of Rexblog arrived at ABM.
That would have put an end to it. Rex is fabulous. All of us can learn from him. I expected the ABM blog to improve instantly.
But now the public relations guy at ABM has sent a nasty letter to Folio complaining about the article. Among his complaints is that reporter quoted the "rants of a single malcontent" (that's me!) and did so "without offering any credentials." (Note to curious people who don't know how blogs work. Use your "mouse" to "click" on the words to the right that say "About Me" and your computer will show you a brand new page that talks About Me!)
Rex -- god bless him and his belief in transparency -- published the letter on the ABM site.
But within minutes, the entire post was removed.
At 2:24 today, I posted a comment on the ABM blog seeking an explanation as to what happened to Rex's earlier post. I have waited an hour, but they have not yet responded.
I can't imagine that ABM would try and censor Rex. But I suppose anything is possible.
I still have Rex's post and the letter in my browser cache. I also talked with the Folio reporter. He confirmed that ABM did send the letter to him. He gave me permission to use it here.
Here's what it looked like:

Dylan,
Your story on MediaPace was neither fair nor balanced. The tone of the piece (obviously set before you spoke with American Business Media) was based on the rants of a single malcontent – a person you anointed as an authority without offering any credentials. This approach is a journalistic blunder from the onset.
You neglected to mention that ABM labored for months in research and development of MediaPace with guidance from proven blogging experts (I gave you names and Web sites), ABM members across the globe, and its committees. Furthermore, you portrayed ABM’s new Blog Committee chair as one of its critics, and incorrectly stated a strategic shift that has not been adopted.
You also neglected to mention that, among the nearly 1000 visits MediaPace experienced this week alone, were postings from proven business-to-business leaders such as Jeff Reinhardt and Tom Cintorino. You neglected to mention that the intended course of dialogue on MediaPace has been abundant, creates a new level of discussion on business media’s critical issues (in line with our mission), and that its postings outnumber the same week’s postings of MediaPace’s most vocal critic. These are all points we discussed.
In such, you understated the mission of MediaPace, which, along with offering our members (including Folio:) a platform for discovery in this rapidly advancing medium, offers a forum for high level discussion on business media topics. Instead, you pandered to base critics without examining their motives, and presented a disparaging portrayal - aided by headline, placement, and lead - to a large audience.
Yet, the most disturbing and unprofessional aspect of this presentation is the way you malign the American Business Media logo at the top of your newsletter; a sophomoric tactic that treads very close to libel.
Remember Dylan, your audience is made of the best minds in media; hacking like this is transparent, a waste of time, and gives credence to those trying to undermine the leadership and courage of a 100-year-old institution. In your alleged examination (rife with grammatical missteps of its own) of a journalistic endeavor, you avoided the fundamentals of fair and balanced reporting - novice approach, tacky delivery.
Steve Ennen Director of Communications American Business Media

I'll resist the urge to call Ennen's letter the rants of a single malcontent. And I'll resist the urge to give ABM another lecture about transparency and blog culture. I'll even resist the urge to point out that ABM is a media association that may want to avoid blaming the media for its troubles.
Instead, I'll urge someone there to look at this article in a B2B publication about how to handle a public relations problem. It's a simple piece, written for beginners. It even has cartoons. One key tip when dealing with a reporter: Remain calm. Hostile responses or angry words only cloud your message.

ADDENDUM: Four hours after I asked for an explanation about the missing post. Rex said that he decided that his "personal blog would be a better place to do that kind of post." I'll be looking forward to seeing it there.

ASBPE announces award finalists

The American Society of Business Publication Editors has released the list of finalists for its Magazine of the Year awards. There are honors for a number of categories, divided by region and circulation size. In editorial, there are awards for a variety of areas, including feature writing, news analysis and on-site trade show coverage.
Of particular interest to me is that CFO magazine is a finalist in four editorial categories. I love CFO, and think it's one of the stronger news products in B2B. (FULL DISCLOSURE: CFO is owned by the Economist Group. When I was Midwest bureau chief for The Journal of Commerce, it too was owned by the Economist. I shared a gorgeous office in Chicago with some staff members of CFO, but never worked on the magazine.) One glaring omission from the list is National Jeweler, another of my favorite B2B magazines and a regular winner of our industry's honors.
Also make note of the accomplishments of CMO, which is a finalist for best new publication, best new web publication and best overall web publication.

ABM's MediaPace unpopular with me and others

It appears that I'm not the only person who has noticed the problems with ABM's foray into the blogging world. Folio magazine has published an article about the site's "growing pains."
I'm quoted in the article. Folio refers to me as one of "b-to-b media’s prominent bloggers." Truth be told, I prefer to be called Paul Conley, B2B journalism know-it-all. But I'm still pleased to be quoted.
Folio contacted me for the article by email the other day, and I shared my thoughts with the reporter. In the interest of transparency, I've posted the entire letter I sent to Folio here.
Since the folks at ABM don't seem to understand what bothers me and others so much about MediaPace, I'm hoping they will take a look.

Running the converged newsroom

When I speak to journalists about developing multimedia skills, I inevitably talk about the concept of the converged newsroom. I talk about how at Bloomberg we taught our print reporters to do television "stand ups" in front of an unmanned video camera. I talk about how at CNN our website reporters appeared as guests on our television shows. I talk about "repurposing" content for the Web. I talk about podcasting and video blogging and the tools of the standalone journalist.
Then I tell them to visit Lawrence, Kan.
Because no one understands the future of the news-gathering business better than Rob Curley of the Lawrence Journal-World.
If you're in Kansas, stop in and introduce yourself. If you're anywhere else, read this story about his appearance at Northwestern University.

A new site, a new tool and a new world

Anyone interested in the emerging field of citizen journalism should be reading Dan Gillmor. And everyone in B2B journalism should be interested in citizen journalism.
But if you tried to read Dan yesterday, you might have found yourself a little confused. Dan has moved his blog to a new location. And I suppose it will take slow folks like me a few days to find our way around the new place.
But even in the midst of the move, Dan managed to find something interesting to write about.
Check out this post about a new technology that gives yet another tool to the standalone journalist.
After that, take a look through Dan's site. If you can find the new location for his groundbreaking work on post-objective style, let me know. If you can't find it -- and if for some unfathomable reason you haven't read it before -- it's still available here.

Trade pubs and the global economy

Crain Communications is the latest B2B publisher to pursue a growth strategy in the emerging economies of Asia. Crain's "Plastics News" is launching an email newsletter to cover developments in China. The newsletter and a related website will publish in both English and simplified Chinese.
I've written about similar B2B ventures before here and here and here.
There's opportunity for any B2B publisher or want-to-be publisher in the world's emerging economies. And I expect that the pace of new product launches will only accelerate in the next few months.
There's particularly interesting news here for young journalists. This new global economy is one that requires language skills that are exceedingly rare in our industry. Nothing would add to your value in the marketplace more than skills in another language. Show me the journalism student who speaks Mandarin, Vietnamese, Arabic or another non-European language, and I'll show you the guy who moves to the front of the hiring line.

ags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters