Online sources

(highlights -- see http://www.arketi.com/news/news37.html for full article)
**comments in italics

Survey of Business Journalists by Arketi Group Finds Blogs and Other Online Sources Growing in Popularity
Study finds journalists believe monitoring of employee blogging ethical, news releases are not dead

ATLANTA – October 22, 2007 – Arketi Group, an integrated marketing and public relations consultancy, today announced the findings of the 2007 Arketi Web Watch Survey: Inside B-to-B Media Usage of Web 2.0. The survey reveals that when it comes to using blogs as primary or secondary sources for articles, 84 percent of journalists say they would or already have.

Sixty percent of journalists say they spend more than 20 hours a week on the Internet. When asked how journalists use the Internet:

• 98 percent say reading news
• 97 percent say emailing
• 93 percent say finding news sources
• 89 percent say finding story ideas
• 72 percent say reading blogs
• 67 percent say watching webinars or webcasts

“Clearly this survey shows that business journalists are embracing user-generated content like blogs, webinars and podcasts as useful in their day-to-day reporting,” said Dr. Kaye Sweetser, APR, assistant professor of public relations at the University of Georgia’s Grady College. “Savvy companies know this and are looking for ways to legitimately increase their participation in creating and growing online content using Web 2.0 methods.”

Finding Story Ideas
Ninety percent of journalists say they turn to industry sources for story ideas, an equal number (90 percent) get story ideas from news releases and a nearly equal number (89 percent) say they tap into public relations contacts.

More than three out of four journalists (79 percent) report finding story ideas on newswires, while 74 percent say from Web sites, 72 percent say from other media outlets and 54 percent report blogs spark story ideas.

All journalists surveyed (100 percent) said they prefer working with known sources via email, while 91 percent prefer telephone and 77 percent say in-person. Interestingly one-quarter (25 percent) say they prefer instant messaging with known sources. When it comes to working with unknown sources, nearly all journalists surveyed (98 percent) say they prefer emails. Eighty percent say phone contact with an unknown source is acceptable.

Almost all journalists (98 percent) say they prefer to receive news releases via email from companies they know, and 93 percent of business journalists say they prefer to receive news releases via email from companies they don’t know but are in industries they cover.

All journalists responding (100 percent) said they viewed information offered online by business news organizations like the Wall Street Journal, Business Week and Bloomberg as credible, and 92 percent said they viewed information reported online by national news organizations like the national TV networks, wire services and newspapers as credible. (in other words, news originating from Mainstream Media and Big Business -- there's the critical question of whether grassroots/alternative/citizen media receive the same treatment)

Others sources of credible online information according to those journalists surveyed included:

• International organizations (89 percent)
• Government agencies (85 percent)
• Corporate websites (85 percent)
• PR professionals (77 percent)
• Activist websites (41 percent)
• Blogs (41 percent)
• Politicians (35 percent)
• Chat, message boards (18 percent)

In a trend that continues to blur the line between print and online media, an overwhelming majority of journalists (92 percent) say their online publication is allowed to “scoop” their print publication. When it comes to reporting, journalists surveyed wrote primarily for a print publication, but the majority also contributes to their organization’s Web site (68 percent).

Media’s Use of Corporate Web Sites
Corporate Web sites make a difference in how business journalists view an organization. Eighty-five percent of journalists say companies without an Internet Web site are less credible. <or just richer?>

“Helping organizations participate in industry-focused conversation is a cornerstone of public relations and today we have more tools than ever before to do just that,” points out Neumeier. “Organizations not taking advantage of these tools are going to be at a great communications disadvantage in the coming years because, like the Internet, these tools are not going away.”

On networking

Anyone in PR would say that networking is vital to a PR career. It's crucial; it's your lifeblood! (Coupled with skills of course.) I haven't established a lot of contacts in the industry yet so you can imagine how much I was looking forward to meeting David Holmes of Holmes Creative Communications today. He was very accommodating and definitely great to talk to ("We are a ____-$ business with 15 people." Whoa.)

Also, a Humber post-grad Journalism student from Humber Etc. actually asked me for a quote and a picture. I might appear in the student paper next week! Lol. There's a slim chance, but I really hope so. The clipping would make a great portfolio piece. It turns out there are quite a number of Humber students at the boat show. David says they mostly hire Humber students too, which is great. We'll see how I fare as a Guelph-Humber student.

This whole boat show stint has been really good for me. It's great being able to have the chance to meet different people from the media (though David says most of them are freeloaders--lol) because a lot of them have so much to say and share about their own experiences: how they started out, what field or industry they work in. I even got to meet the cameraman and the reporter of the Cantonese edition of OMNI News on my first day (fine, I watch news programs in Chinese...I just love OMNI!).

Saturday and Sunday should be huge days, oh my. Those are the last two days of the boat show and all of the big media are coming -- anyone who's anyone in tv, radio, print (and lots from boating industry publications). They promise to be hectic days, but I'm really looking forward to them! I wish I had business cards to give out already, but my phone numbers and address aren't definite yet. I can't decide whether to stay in Toronto for the summer doing volunteer PR work or go home to Orillia and make money working at the casino. Decisions, decisions.

Gun violence isn't about guns

An (most probably, reports say) innocent bystander was killed in Gerrard St. E tonight -- and this is Toronto's third homicide this year.

I was at the media office of the boat show tonight, registering media and phoning some outlets, and I realize this was why CTV, CityTV and Global weren't interested in covering the boat show ("Bad timing" and "We're pretty full on the agenda tonight," they say).

This after a similar incident on Yonge St. last weekend. Predictably there will be more talk about the handgun ban proposed by Mayor David Miller, and more talk about capturing these out-of-control "gunmen" and putting them behind bars.

The news is fresh and will be analyzed in editorials in the coming days, and I'm hoping the focus will be in getting to the root of the problem instead of on "guns" and "criminals." Take a look at out how the suspects for the Yonge shooting were described in this CTV article

The first man is described as:

• In his early 20s
• Between 5-foot-9 and 5-foot-11
• Medium build
• Possibly Hispanic
• He was wearing a white hooded sweatshirt and a white baseball cap

The second suspect is described as;

• In his early 20s
• Between 5-foot-7 and 5-foot-10
• Skinny
• Light-black complexion
• He was wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt

What does this info suggest? We can all make our own guesses and not come up with any conclusive answers, but it's common sense that aggression is linked to disenfranchisement and all the influencing factors in an individual's life, if you look at it from a developmental/lifespan perspective. It's not about guns. There are so many other ways to kill. This is about what community has provided -- or not provided -- these young men.

A tribute to the Age of Anxiety

Who would not appreciate The Scream? We only saw it 12 million times back when MTV was still awesome (1997). And I love this:















He's one of the writers for Poplicks!

He's Junichi Semitsu, a law professor/blogger. His post about his experience on Millionaire is quite interesting -- particularly his comments on the questions being written for a Japanese person ("Cape of Good Sushi," yes?) being edited out and having to bring multiple clothes to make it look like he came to the show on separate days. And his conversation with Meredith about the Dixie Chicks was cut! That would have been great to watch on Youtube. Understandably his "lamenting" of Bush's election (he had the guts to say he was too depressed after the 2004 election to remember much) was cut. Oh the politics of television.

It really boils down to tv being a platform to deliver an audience to advertisers, and not programs to tv viewers. I don't think his intelligence was being tested on this show like he says; I'd still respect him even if he went home with $0. It's just one of those shows where all the random, (mostly) useless facts of the world are dumped into..no different from crossword puzzles.

MacBook Air - form over function?

I'm no tech guru but the sexy new MacBook Air (see demo) is intriguing. Three of my friends are really interested in it, but I've been reading way too many comments about it being more about form than function. The reviews are still pretty sparse even.

As a student a laptop that's thin and very portable is ideal for me, but at the price point (CAD $1,899.00, 100 bucks more expensive than it is in the U.S., which does not make sense given the current exchange rate) it's not practical. The ultra thinness of it, wireless power and multi-touch pad are incredible, but is it really worth it? No optical drive, one USB port, non-upgradeable RAM, no Firewire/Ethernet/Apple remote -- pretty basic necessities -- do not really make the notebook work for most people. Students without MACs yet, MAC fanatics and those with money to spare might be attracted to it, but for now I'll wait 'till a more practical thin notebook comes along. (More comments about features here)

The manufacturers forgot the world isn't completely wireless yet. I should know; I live in student residence and still have to use Ethernet. And I still watch my movies on DVD, thanks much.

Hello again!

I "lost" my previous blog, so this is where I'll be posting from now on. You can still read it here.