Call it the Blog-nomenon.  Blogs have become ubiquitous sources of information, from the broad to the very niche. Chances are, there’s a blog to cater to your every whim.  Whether run by big journalistic behemoths (i.e., The New York Times) or one-person operations (i.e., Perez Hilton), the most influential blogs have a significant readership and brand recognition that attracts throngs of people who trust them as viable news sources.  That said, pitching to bloggers has become as important — if not more so — as pitching to traditional journalists. So,how do you get your story noticed by this new breed of “journalist”? (more…)

Something happened this holiday season that reaffirmed my beliefs and solidified what I knew to be true.  No, I didn’t catch a glimpse of Santa or his eight tiny reindeer, but for this journalism-major-and-longtime-newswire-advocate, what I witnessed was even better:  It was the power of traditional media at work.  I saw the newspaper (that paper thing) and the radio (the thing in your car with the buttons) do what many people have unjustly claimed these media channels could no longer do: inform, educate, inspire and motivate.   (more…)

Some may think that 2010 was the Year of the iPad.  Others might say the year belonged to “Glee” or the “Old Spice guy.” But what happens when 2011 rolls around? What trends do you think will shape the media and how should you react to them? (more…)

All the heavy-hitters of the magazine industry were there: the CEOs of Time, Inc., Meredith Corporation, Hearst Corporation, Conde Nast, OPRAH WINFREY herself.  The place:  The Fairmont Hotel in Chicago.  The occasion: The 2010 American Magazine Conference.  The outlook: sunny, without a cloud in the sky or on the horizon.

Amid their panicked media counterparts in the newspaper and broadcast industries, the magazine folks seem to be the only ones smiling.  How can this be?  With the Internet’s minions — social media, bloggers, free digital news sites – descending upon traditional print media and changing the way we receive and consume their news, drying up the once-lucrative print ad sales numbers and slashing news staffs, the members of the magazine industry have taken a different approach than abject despair:  if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. (more…)

Despite the global economic crisis and migration of readers to online platforms, traditional newspapers retain their vitality in Latin America, falling far from the predictions that point to a rapid decrease readership. On the contrary, they will continue to grow for the next five years, particularly in South America, according to research conducted by consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. (more…)

“Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man [OR woman] healthy, wealthy and wise.”

We’re all pretty familiar with this seemingly antiquated proverb.  But old Ben Franklin’s adage rings truer than ever within the realm of morning news broadcasts, as more and more stations are beginning their shows at 4:30 or even 4:00 am.

According to a recent article in The New York Times, Nielsen ratings report that more and more Americans have their TV sets on during the wee hours, and news programs are going after those viewers, especially the 30-somethings, who represent lucrative ad dollars. (more…)

In the last few weeks, there has been a lot of buzz surrounding the phrase “net neutrality.” If you haven’t heard, there has been a heated debate on the true intentions of a recent joint proposal by Google and Verizon about how net neutrality should be enforced. So much has been said and written canvassing this issue that maybe it is a good idea to provide a crash course on net neutrality so you can form your own opinion about this multifaceted debate. (more…)

According to a recent report, investments made in media and communications, especially pertaining to mobile devices and the Internet, will increase faster than the US economy through 2014.

The report, compiled by media-focused private equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson, indicates that the media and communications industries are expected to grow to $1.42 trillion by 2014 at an average annual increase of 6.1 percent. This is a 0.3 percent difference from the estimated 5.8 percent increase in US gross domestic product during that same time frame. In 2010 alone, US media and communications are expected to gain 3.5 percent and bounce back from the “recession-induced advertising dip.” (more…)

Ask Craig Newmark to describe what he does, and he’ll respond with the most humble of answers: “I do customer service for a living.” Even his business card lists his title as simply “customer service rep” — oh, and on the same line, given the same level of prominence, “& founder.” (more…)

During the recent mesh10 conference in Toronto, I interviewed Jason Fry, former columnist of The Wall Street Journal Online. As a panelist of the session “How Do Platforms Change Content Consumption?” he and three others discussed the onus put on new high-tech devices to save traditional media and convince the public to pay for content. Afterward, we focused on journalism as it stands today. (more…)

In a world where newspapers are shutting down, laying off staff and making as many cuts necessary to stay alive, two ambitious hyperlocal news sites, TBD.com in Washington, DC and CivilBeat.com in Hawaii are attempting to get seats at the already crowded table of media outlets.  According to Rick Edmonds, author of Poyntner Online’s Biz Blog, they share similar strategies for breaking through online clutter: (more…)

Recently, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the company’s new “Open Graph” platform – a move that is guaranteed to change how 400 million (and counting) Facebook subscribers interact with the internet. As the No. 2 site in the world (as of May 6, 2010), Facebook is giving its users the ability to personalize their own web experience through this social-bookmarking-on-steroids approach.  (more…)

As the Hispanic population grows within the United States, many companies develop concerted marketing campaigns that target US Hispanics, but without a full understanding of the demographic. The 2010 Hispanic Marketing Trends Survey, conducted by Los Angeles-based Hispanic advertising agency Orcí, polled 9,300 senior marketing and advertising executives of top-tiered businesses in the US. It revealed that “while the vast majority of respondents recognize the market’s impact on American culture, there is a lack of understanding of the Hispanic market’s power as a driver of business.”

Other revelations included: (more…)

Next time you are riding the bus or train to work in the morning, look around you. How many people are staring down at electronic readers, such as Amazon’s Kindle?  How many people are holding a newspaper, a book or a magazine? According to some, the amount of the former is on the rise, which leads one to believe that the number of the latter is on the decline. (more…)

It’s a well known fact that Marketwire has its own media relations department. But, unlike what most people know “media relations” to be, we do not build relationships with the media in order to garner publicity (that would be our marketing department’s role!).

As a company that provides services for PR, IR, marketing communications and media professionals, we have a different perspective and a different definition of media relations. Perhaps “media liaison” might be a more appropriate name because, essentially, we act as a bridge between the media and Marketwire clients to ensure that journalists, analysts and online communities receive news and information on their areas of interest, in the formats and via the distribution mechanisms they desire. (more…)

Since The Wall Street Journal began charging for access, Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp and a host of other sites have followed suit.  The New York Times has announced a plan to begin a “paywall” structured site in 2011. Similar modifications are under way at abcnews.com and Newsday Publications’ sites to make way for paid-for content.

A recent study conducted by the Pew Research Institute revealed that, if asked to pay for online news access, 82 percent of those surveyed would find their news elsewhere.  That begs the question: Who  belongs to the leftover 18 percent? (more…)

When British soccer sensation David Beckham arrived in America in 2007 to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy, he had to correct himself after dropping the proverbial ball with the name of his beloved sport.  Beckham made a mistake by calling his sport “football.”  He then said, “Excuse me… soccer.” Even he was confused as to what to call it in the US. (more…)

Colombian investigative journalism lost an important contributor last month when Casa Editorial El Tiempo announced the restructuring of Cambio, a well recognized magazine which, from 1993, focused on investigative cases; a vast majority based on political corruption. (CNN covered the topic last month in an article entitled “Shutdown of Colombian magazine raises questions.”) (more…)

Our Media Relations team is constantly in touch with our downstream partners to ensure that communications between us is always clear and we are doing our best to promote our clients’ visibility in the marketplace. I recently had the opportunity to chat with an editor at Dow Jones, who provided me with useful tips and advice (particularly for IR folks) that will help our readers and clients maximize their press release distribution. (more…)

One of the largest American media conglomerates, Viacom, is pulling two of Comedy Central’s most popular shows: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report off the online video giant Hulu. Relax…Comedy Central has no plans to switch to the  increasingly popular idea of a pay wall. They’ve simply come to the realization that there is no need to split ad revenue with a site like Hulu when they can keep the content in-house on ComedyCentral.com.

The fact is that if consumers are interested in the content, they will find it online. Clearly, there is an inverse relationship between a show’s popularity and its need to be on Hulu.  Does this mean that, in the future, Hulu will be consumers’ No. 1 stop for Hee Haw reruns?  I seriously doubt it, but it will be interesting to see if more of television’s most popular shows follow Viacom’s lead…

For more details on this issue, and another perspective, read the recent New York Times article, “Viacom Will Take ‘Daily Show,’ ‘Colbert’ off Hulu.”