Here is a very nice little "feel-good" feature story about a tiny town in the Yakima valley of Washington state. Think about how the reporter got the information for this story--to whom did he talk? Where did he get his details? This is an excerpt. To read the entire article, click here.
Small-town life, Harrah-style
By PHIL FEROLITO
Yakima Herald-Republic
HARRAH -- During the winter months, life in this Lower Yakima Valley farm town begins well before the first light.
Nearly two dozen pickups crowd the front of the Farm House Cafe and spill into the nearby Town Hall and the fire station parking lots.
It's 5:30 in the morning, and the glowing neon sign in the cafe's front window reads "Open."
Inside, the coffee is hot and the murmur and laughter of more than 20 farmers spills across the tables.
"We're all a tight mix," says Dale Rex, a retired Pacific Power area representative who now does some farming. "We're always here in the morning for coffee."
Outside, the town is dark and lifeless, except for a few more farmers pulling up in pickups.
The cafe is where the day begins in this town of not quite 600 people.
Nestled amid arid sagelands and sprawling hop fields deep within the Yakama Indian reservation, Harrah is the smallest town in Yakima County -- not quite 0.44 square miles.
Incorporated in 1946, it boasts two stores, a beauty salon, a tavern and the cafe. A stop sign at the junction of Harrah and Branch roads marks the only intersection.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Friday, December 4, 2009
Tiger Botched His PR Opportunity
More from a PR Pro on how Tiger Woods blew taking control of the communications. To read the entire article and some very enlightening blogpost comments, click here.
Playing a bad lie: How Tiger botched a PR opportunity
By Ari B. Adler
By not addressing his infidelity right away, Woods let rumors aggravate a bad situation
Sexing, texting and vexing—it’s a perfect storm of reputation destruction, and its latest victim is Tiger Woods. To make matters worse, instead of facing the publicity storm head on and getting control of the story as quickly as possible, he went into hiding. That left the story angles to those less concerned about his best interests.
It’s probably a sad testament to the times, but when Woods’ SUV ran over a fire hydrant and into a tree around 2:30 a.m. one night last week, there were plenty of people who immediately thought, “drunken driving.” When it became clear that wasn’t the case, the rumors started to expand to include painkillers, speeding and his wife chasing him out of the house with a golf club.
While the rumors and the news reports about them began to grow, Woods stayed mum. He would not talk to the press. He would not talk to police. Therefore, instead of having a bad-news story last a couple of days, he has instead been faced with a nonstop, daily thrashing of his reputation. Breaking news alerts and breathless anchors eager to share any update have now given way to the online posting of a voicemail to and “sexts” from an alleged mistress.
This type of rumor, innuendo and celebrity smackdown news has always been a possibility, but it was generally dealt with by PR pros with a shrug and, “Well, it’s the National Enquirer—no one really believes that stuff, anyway.” Now, what used to be considered salacious material best left to the tabloids is finding its way to online powerhouses like the Huffington Post and to mainstream juggernauts like CNN and ESPN.
The tagline from that 1990s cult-classic television show “The X-Files” has never been more relevant. “The truth is out there,” we were told, week after week. These days, however, PR pros need to remember that not only is the truth out there, it’s now available in electronic formats that are easily reproduced and distributed.
That means they need to be even more aggressive—both with their clients and with the media. They need to get clients to be 100 percent upfront with them about every potential PR attack. Then, they need to go on the offensive and get control of the story immediately.
In Woods’ case, the story became the story, which is the last thing he needed. In the statement he finally issued, Woods said, “Personal sins should not require press releases.” He should stick to golf and stop trying to dabble in public relations. Often, in media cases like this, a coverup becomes a bigger story than the initial indiscretion. Though it may be another sad testament to the times, a famous man cheating on his wife is a one- or two-day story. The ones drawn out in the headlines for weeks at a time are those in which only a few details are revealed at first and the rest trickle out.
Consider what would have happened if Tiger Woods had held a press conference upon being released from the hospital. It’s quite likely the basic story would have been:
“Tiger Woods announced today that his car accident occurred after he left his home following an argument with his wife over an extra-marital affair. The golf pro allegedly had a long-term relationship with a woman he met just months before his wife gave birth to their daughter. Woods said he is working through the matter with his wife and asked for privacy for all parties involved to assist in his family’s healing process.”
Anyone going on the offensive after that would have been seen as opportunistic and risked their reputations. By confessing and repenting publicly with the whole story, Woods would have positioned himself as a potential victim.
Going on the offensive isn’t going to change the facts, but it will make them less captivating and, therefore, less newsworthy. Besides, with today’s incredible-story-of-the-minute news industry and their attention-deficient audiences, it never takes long for the spotlight to shift.
Playing a bad lie: How Tiger botched a PR opportunity
By Ari B. Adler
By not addressing his infidelity right away, Woods let rumors aggravate a bad situation
Sexing, texting and vexing—it’s a perfect storm of reputation destruction, and its latest victim is Tiger Woods. To make matters worse, instead of facing the publicity storm head on and getting control of the story as quickly as possible, he went into hiding. That left the story angles to those less concerned about his best interests.
It’s probably a sad testament to the times, but when Woods’ SUV ran over a fire hydrant and into a tree around 2:30 a.m. one night last week, there were plenty of people who immediately thought, “drunken driving.” When it became clear that wasn’t the case, the rumors started to expand to include painkillers, speeding and his wife chasing him out of the house with a golf club.
While the rumors and the news reports about them began to grow, Woods stayed mum. He would not talk to the press. He would not talk to police. Therefore, instead of having a bad-news story last a couple of days, he has instead been faced with a nonstop, daily thrashing of his reputation. Breaking news alerts and breathless anchors eager to share any update have now given way to the online posting of a voicemail to and “sexts” from an alleged mistress.
This type of rumor, innuendo and celebrity smackdown news has always been a possibility, but it was generally dealt with by PR pros with a shrug and, “Well, it’s the National Enquirer—no one really believes that stuff, anyway.” Now, what used to be considered salacious material best left to the tabloids is finding its way to online powerhouses like the Huffington Post and to mainstream juggernauts like CNN and ESPN.
The tagline from that 1990s cult-classic television show “The X-Files” has never been more relevant. “The truth is out there,” we were told, week after week. These days, however, PR pros need to remember that not only is the truth out there, it’s now available in electronic formats that are easily reproduced and distributed.
That means they need to be even more aggressive—both with their clients and with the media. They need to get clients to be 100 percent upfront with them about every potential PR attack. Then, they need to go on the offensive and get control of the story immediately.
In Woods’ case, the story became the story, which is the last thing he needed. In the statement he finally issued, Woods said, “Personal sins should not require press releases.” He should stick to golf and stop trying to dabble in public relations. Often, in media cases like this, a coverup becomes a bigger story than the initial indiscretion. Though it may be another sad testament to the times, a famous man cheating on his wife is a one- or two-day story. The ones drawn out in the headlines for weeks at a time are those in which only a few details are revealed at first and the rest trickle out.
Consider what would have happened if Tiger Woods had held a press conference upon being released from the hospital. It’s quite likely the basic story would have been:
“Tiger Woods announced today that his car accident occurred after he left his home following an argument with his wife over an extra-marital affair. The golf pro allegedly had a long-term relationship with a woman he met just months before his wife gave birth to their daughter. Woods said he is working through the matter with his wife and asked for privacy for all parties involved to assist in his family’s healing process.”
Anyone going on the offensive after that would have been seen as opportunistic and risked their reputations. By confessing and repenting publicly with the whole story, Woods would have positioned himself as a potential victim.
Going on the offensive isn’t going to change the facts, but it will make them less captivating and, therefore, less newsworthy. Besides, with today’s incredible-story-of-the-minute news industry and their attention-deficient audiences, it never takes long for the spotlight to shift.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Journicide: New Word, Sobering Concept
Here's an excerpt from a stimulating blog entry by a seasoned journalist. The comments following the blog entry are especially illuminating. To read the entire entry, click here.
Journicide: A looming, lost generation of scribes
Vanishing employment opportunities and shrinking freelance compensation threaten to wipe out a substantial percentage of the next generation of professional journalists.
This journicide, to coin a term, is not merely going to be difficult and disappointing for the affected young people, who mostly will move on to find rewarding careers in other endeavors.
But the loss of a substantial portion of what would have been the next generation of journalists also will be tragic for society. The loss will deprive citizens in the future with the insights that only can be delivered by dedicated professionals with the time, skills and motivation to dig deeply into difficult stories.
Bloggers and other bloviators, this writer expressly included, will not take up the slack. Absent some miracle that motivates someone, anyone, to start fairly compensating journalists again, we are going to lose something that has been very important to our democracy throughout the life of the nation. I can’t imagine what it will be like without professional journalists, but I don’t think we will like the outcome.
Journicide has been under way since newspapers and other mainstream media began losing their formidable revenue-generating juju in 2006. The elimination of full-time professional journalism jobs since then has been so relentless that it has become remarkably, depressingly commonplace.
Paper Cuts reports that nearly 15,000 newspaper jobs were eliminated so far this year, putting the industry on track to rival, or potentially surpass, the nearly 16,000 jobs axed in 2008. Last month, the Associated Press zapped 90 positions to cut 10% of its payroll costs, and BusinessWeek pink-slipped a reported 130 individuals, or approximately a third of its staff.
As bad as things are for still-working and formerly employed journalists – and they are bad – the opportunities are even worse for journalists seeking their first gigs. There are two reasons:
First, young journalists trying to land entry-level jobs find themselves competing with seasoned pros who have been knocked off perches higher up in the food chain.
Second, the miserable state of the media business has combined with a sharp increase in the supply of available journalists to reduce compensation to humiliatingly low levels.
As a consequence, young journalists looking for opportunities to start careers – even the idealistic eager ones celebrated here by David Carr – are looking at an almost universally bleak economic landscape.
Salaried, entry-level positions at traditional news organizations are almost entirely unavailable, because the organizations are trying to avoid laying off any more staffers than they already have.
This leaves phalanxes of young journalists to compete among themselves for low- or no-pay internships and highly exploitive freelance opportunities that typically promise rich “exposure” but scant, if any, hard cash.
Journicide: A looming, lost generation of scribes
Vanishing employment opportunities and shrinking freelance compensation threaten to wipe out a substantial percentage of the next generation of professional journalists.
This journicide, to coin a term, is not merely going to be difficult and disappointing for the affected young people, who mostly will move on to find rewarding careers in other endeavors.
But the loss of a substantial portion of what would have been the next generation of journalists also will be tragic for society. The loss will deprive citizens in the future with the insights that only can be delivered by dedicated professionals with the time, skills and motivation to dig deeply into difficult stories.
Bloggers and other bloviators, this writer expressly included, will not take up the slack. Absent some miracle that motivates someone, anyone, to start fairly compensating journalists again, we are going to lose something that has been very important to our democracy throughout the life of the nation. I can’t imagine what it will be like without professional journalists, but I don’t think we will like the outcome.
Journicide has been under way since newspapers and other mainstream media began losing their formidable revenue-generating juju in 2006. The elimination of full-time professional journalism jobs since then has been so relentless that it has become remarkably, depressingly commonplace.
Paper Cuts reports that nearly 15,000 newspaper jobs were eliminated so far this year, putting the industry on track to rival, or potentially surpass, the nearly 16,000 jobs axed in 2008. Last month, the Associated Press zapped 90 positions to cut 10% of its payroll costs, and BusinessWeek pink-slipped a reported 130 individuals, or approximately a third of its staff.
As bad as things are for still-working and formerly employed journalists – and they are bad – the opportunities are even worse for journalists seeking their first gigs. There are two reasons:
First, young journalists trying to land entry-level jobs find themselves competing with seasoned pros who have been knocked off perches higher up in the food chain.
Second, the miserable state of the media business has combined with a sharp increase in the supply of available journalists to reduce compensation to humiliatingly low levels.
As a consequence, young journalists looking for opportunities to start careers – even the idealistic eager ones celebrated here by David Carr – are looking at an almost universally bleak economic landscape.
Salaried, entry-level positions at traditional news organizations are almost entirely unavailable, because the organizations are trying to avoid laying off any more staffers than they already have.
This leaves phalanxes of young journalists to compete among themselves for low- or no-pay internships and highly exploitive freelance opportunities that typically promise rich “exposure” but scant, if any, hard cash.
Washington Times Downsizes
From TPM LIve Wire:
Washington Times Announces 'Significant Staff Reduction'
Justin Elliott
The beleaguered Washington Times announced "significant" reductions to its staff of 370 today.
In response to "marketplace realities", "the company is aggressively working to achieve efficiencies of scale that must include significant staff reduction of its 370 personnel," said Publisher Jonathan Slevin.
The Times statement does not give an exact number of layoffs, and a spokesman did not respond to a phone call. Politico's Michael Calderone is hearing about 40% of the staff will be let go.
The release went out to reporters as Times staffers attended a hastily called meeting in the newspaper's ballroom this afternoon. Newsroom sources have told TPM that in recent days several people packed up their desk photos in anticipation they could be laid off with limited notice. Also, some staffers have been avoiding parking in the parking lot in case the gates are closed to force them to return equipment.
Among the changes to be made gradually through 2010 are: free circulation to targeted groups, an expansion of the Times' theconservatives.com, more partnership with United Press International (UPI), which, like the Times, is owned by the Unification Church.
The turmoil at the Times, which was founded by church leader Rev. Sun Myung Moon, began when three executives were fired in early November. The resignation of top editor John Solomon was announced a few days later. Solomon and the fired execs haven't been talking, but sources and reports point to a combination of Moon family politics and financial problems driving the chaos at the paper, which has long been subsidized by the Unification Church.
Adding to the trouble has been a very public set of allegations made by now-former editorial page editor Richard Miniter, who has accused the Times of religious discrimination and breach of contract.
Washington Times Announces 'Significant Staff Reduction'
Justin Elliott
The beleaguered Washington Times announced "significant" reductions to its staff of 370 today.
In response to "marketplace realities", "the company is aggressively working to achieve efficiencies of scale that must include significant staff reduction of its 370 personnel," said Publisher Jonathan Slevin.
The Times statement does not give an exact number of layoffs, and a spokesman did not respond to a phone call. Politico's Michael Calderone is hearing about 40% of the staff will be let go.
The release went out to reporters as Times staffers attended a hastily called meeting in the newspaper's ballroom this afternoon. Newsroom sources have told TPM that in recent days several people packed up their desk photos in anticipation they could be laid off with limited notice. Also, some staffers have been avoiding parking in the parking lot in case the gates are closed to force them to return equipment.
Among the changes to be made gradually through 2010 are: free circulation to targeted groups, an expansion of the Times' theconservatives.com, more partnership with United Press International (UPI), which, like the Times, is owned by the Unification Church.
The turmoil at the Times, which was founded by church leader Rev. Sun Myung Moon, began when three executives were fired in early November. The resignation of top editor John Solomon was announced a few days later. Solomon and the fired execs haven't been talking, but sources and reports point to a combination of Moon family politics and financial problems driving the chaos at the paper, which has long been subsidized by the Unification Church.
Adding to the trouble has been a very public set of allegations made by now-former editorial page editor Richard Miniter, who has accused the Times of religious discrimination and breach of contract.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
J-Student Gets Published in WORLD Magazine
Here is an inspiring story about how a sophomore journalism major at Patrick Henry College in Virginia got published in a major magazine. I hope it inspires you and plants the seeds that you, too, can be published in major media. Enterprising Journalism major, sophomore Julie Smyth is shown, left, with fellow Journalism major Brooke Butler on trip to "Newseum" in D.C.Journalism Sophomore Published in WORLD Magazine
By Sarah Pride
Read Julie Smyth’s article in WORLD: “Life Begins Again”
A darkened Town Hall at Patrick Henry College rang with music and laughter from the student-organized “Harmonicomedy.” Sophomore Julie Smyth, a Journalism major, checked her watch and slipped into the ladies’ bathroom, where she set her laptop on the counter with the sinks, taking advantage of the bathroom’s light to finish her latest assignment for Journalism 101. She hadn’t wanted to miss the show, and yet she knew she had to complete an assignment already overdue because of difficult interviews.
Smyth considered herself blessed to have obtained an interview at all. A local station in Bryan, Texas had broken the story earlier that week. Abby Johnson, director of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Bryan and a 2008 “Employee of the Year” for the abortion provider, had recently resigned her post after watching an abortion being performed. Seeking to discredit Johnson, Planned Parenthood made the story public, but then pro-life organizations picked up the story and suddenly Johnson’s startling conversion became a cause celebre for the pro-life movement. Smyth’s mother heard about it and passed the news on to her daughter.
Being an enterprising young journalist, Smyth decided to try for an interview. She put out calls on Wednesday, but by her Thursday deadline nobody had replied. But when the phone rang Friday morning, Smyth picked up the phone to find Johnson on the line.
“I was getting pretty discouraged,” admits Smyth. “But—wow! She called me back!”
During the interview, Johnson mentioned that she was scheduled for Fox News and the Huckabee Show that weekend. But Smyth talked to her first.
“I got to her before Huckabee did. That’s pretty cool!” Smyth enthuses.
Two days after she finally submitted her article, Smyth heard from Dr. Les Sillars, Director of Journalism at PHC, asking her to submit it for further publication. The next evening, she says Dr. Sillars e-mailed her to tell her that WORLD magazine wanted to publish her work.
“I thought she did a good job, so I sent it off,” relates Sillars. “Worldmag.com said it was one of the most-read stories of the weekend.”
Smyth looks back on her week-and-a-half of waiting, phone calls, interviews, and then unexpected success as “miracle after miracle.” She knew she couldn’t make the interview happen on her own. Nor did she ever expect that WORLD would publish her article, since most Journalism 101 students feel blessed simply to have their work printed in the PHC Herald, the student newspaper.
“It wasn’t because of my own talent,” says Smyth. “It was a gift from God.”
Read Julie Smyth’s article in WORLD: “Life Begins Again”
Tiger Woods' Silence Creating PR Storm
(CNN) -- From the time he putted a golf ball at the age of 2 on "The Mike Douglas Show," Tiger Woods has been a golden child.
While athletes in different professions dealt with doping scandals and other controversies, Woods continued to do what he did best: dominate the field of professional golf and rake in endorsements.
But it is that squeaky-clean image, and the tightly controlled persona Woods has cultivated over the course of his career, that experts say is fueling speculation and interest in the circumstances surrounding his recent car accident.
Publicist and crisis communications expert Howard Bragman said Woods' strategy of refusing to speak out is not working.
"It's not working by the measure of your goal, and your goal is to make the story go away," Bragman said. "His not speaking to the press has become the story, and that's the last thing you want."
Bragman said that means the tabloids can take the lead on the story rather than Woods getting out in front of it and controlling the flow of information. By his seeming evasive, Bragman noted, the appetite for details is heightened.
"We see him on Sundays, wearing red, holding trophies, but I don't think we really know that much about him, which is an anomaly in the world we live in right now with everyone knowing every little detail about Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears and fill-in-the-blank," said Rick Ellington, managing editor of Sports Business Daily.
"I think [the story] has mushroomed because Tiger is notoriously private and keeps everything to himself, except what he wants to get out."
The golfing phenom appears to not want to reveal anything regarding what led up to a single-vehicle accident in his posh neighborhood near Orlando, Florida, where according to a police accident report Woods sustained minor injuries.
Law enforcement officials -- who said Tuesday that he would receive a careless driving citation -- had tried unsuccessfully to speak with Woods and his wife about the accident, in which he pulled out of his driveway in a 2009 Cadillac SUV and struck a fire hydrant, then a tree.
Speculation about what led up to the accident has run rampant among fans. Woods' wife, Elin Nordegren, told police she used a golf club to break out a rear window of the vehicle and then pulled Woods from the SUV after she heard the crash from inside their home.
For his part, Woods has called his wife's actions "courageous" and insisted that he wants to keep the matter private.
Sports journalist and essayist Jim Huber, who has known Woods for 12 years, said it's hard to fathom the golfer being embroiled in controversy.
"As close as he has allowed me to get, I have never heard inkling to belie the fact that he has led anything other than an exemplary life," said Huber, a reporter and essayist for CNN's sister network TNT, who formerly hosted sports shows for CNN. "He values family life."
Woods also values his privacy, Huber said, and has an inner circle of very savvy advisers. How fans and the public react to the pro golfer will be determined by what happens in the days and weeks to come, Huber said.
"It's going to be a critical time," Huber said. "The fact that he's gone into hiding, I don't know if it's going to help or if it's going to continue to fuel the rumor mill."
Bragman, who is the chairman of media company Fifteen Minutes -- whose client roster is as varied as entertainers like Stevie Wonder and athletes including golfer Rosie Jones and WNBA player Sheryl Swoopes -- said Woods' wholesome image may also mean that neither he nor his team was prepared for the accident's fallout.
Ellington, whose publication covers the business side of sports, said that although some think Woods needs to say something to quell the rumors, his strategy of silence may also have value.
"The other train of thought is that by staying quiet, he can't possibly open himself up to more questioning or any more salacious headlines," Ellington said. "That's actually what he's done for most of his career. He's being very good managing what gets out and what doesn't, so he may be going on the assumption that that has worked before, so it will work now."
Ellington said it is too early to tell whether this incident will have a lasting effect on Woods' career. The initial reaction from sponsors such as Nike has been supportive.
If more scandalous details emerge, that could change, Ellington said.
But with the herculean focus Woods has as a golfer, Ellington said, it seems highly unlikely that he will let what happened throw off his game.
That championship mentality is also why the story has taken on a life of its own, he said.
"[Woods] is easily one of the most recognizable athletes, not just in the United States but worldwide," Ellington said. "If this was a story about Phil Mickelson instead of Tiger Woods, I don't think it would be getting as much press as it has."
Reflections on a Summer Newspaper Internship
I thought you might be interested in the impressions and reflections of one of Grace's current journalism students, Rachel Ramos, on her experience last summer as an intern with a small-town newspaper in Ohio. Note not only her editorial comments, but also some of the responses from readers of the paper.
http://www.timesreporter.com/opinion/x1373199559/Internship-was-never-monotonous
http://www.timesreporter.com/opinion/x1373199559/Internship-was-never-monotonous
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