A recent survey from Pew Research Center has found that the Internet has now become the main news source, other than TV, for most national and international news. The survey has found that 40% of respondents use online sources to get their daily dose of news.

So this can only mean that newspapers are going to die and publicity seekers will have to focus their PR efforts elsewhere, right?
No way.
What it does mean is that as there are more sources for news, you’re going to see newspapers (and other media) doing more niche-focused news. And that’s when a savvy publicity seeker …read more

Happy new year everyone.
The other day on my free PR teleclass, someone asked me what my crystal ball had to reveal for the PR and publicity field in 2009. I thought you’d like to read my predictions:

It’s an exciting time in public relations, as the landscape will surely be evolving and changing.
And the one thing that’s going to impact publicists and public relations professionals is how more consumers (people in our target markets) will be interacting and shaping what we do. With instant responses via social media, PR folks can monitor and see reactions quickly – and if they are …read more

If Microsoft doesn’t want to buy Yahoo, why do executives keep talking about the acquisition-gone-wrong?
The continued dribble of comments about potential side-deals and semi-deals must be distracting to Microsoft employees, who are in the middle of the company’s transformation from Bill Gates’ company to an entity that embraces open architectures and web-based apps interconnecting in a cloud.
Does MSFT even know what messages it wants to be sending investors, regulators, the public and customers?
Microsoft Says Chances of Yahoo Takeover Negligible (Reuters)
Shocker: Yahoo Shoots Carl Icahn as Microsoft Messenger (Kara Swisher)
For a mega-corporation, Microsoft is acting like a teenage boy at a …read more

You have to wonder how the talk went at CBC the day they decided to play hardball with the author of the iconic Hockey Night in Canada theme song.
“That theme is too recognizable,” one exec said to the other. “Is that really worth a couple of million dollars?”
(Pardon me while I get out my calculator and figure out how much cash the theme song would generate in mobile phone ring tones at $3 per customer…)
Tired of the legal strictures of their expiring agreement with the jingle’s songwriter, CBC decided to play hardball, setting a deadline for negotiations with the …read more

There was a time when a public speaker could count on the attention of their audience.
Blackberries, wireless laptops, and other tools mean that you’re no longer in control of the environment you’re speaking in. Are you talking to a room full of conference-goers, or to all the readers of live bloggers and folks Twittering your comments to their colleagues?
You don’t know.
The implications for speechwriters and their clients?
Speechwriter Glynn Young says speakers need to be more conversational, engaging the audience in the talk. Speechwriters need to “think of people not as an audience, but … as a community, a community …read more

Reporters are often looking for a follow-up angle for a news item.
If your company sells travel insurance, for example, there are frequent news stories about tourism, travel interruptions, health alerts, big storms and airport security.

Your goal isn’t just to get mentioned in the media. You should also be positioning your organization as a reliable commentator on your industry.
If you can also work in a mention of the products you sell, or your unique selling proposition. fine. But don’t sacrifice a reporter’s time just to push your messages in an inappropriate situation.
You’re creating a reputation as a reliable source …read more

There’s a mountain of analysis of what went wrong with Hillary Clinton’s drive for the presidential nomination.
I’m with the pundits who say it was her team’s assumption that they were orchestrating a coronation when they needed to be gearing up for a marathon race.
While the dark horse (no pun intended) raised buckets of money and orchestrated a grassroots revolution, Hillary stayed stuck on the experience message.
Instead of asking voters to make a change by electing a woman, she kept hammering away that experience was the most important quality in a leader. It worked for Dick Cheney, so why …read more

There are many instances when you can’t provide advance notice to business partners about an announcement.

But when collaboration is possible, take advantage of the chance to give organizations that you’re partnering with a chance to get their communications planned.
If there are restrictions on the distribution of information, be clear about those restrictions. If you need feedback on the facts and statements, ask explicitly for that help.
It’s much easier to fix problematic wording ahead of time. After you’ve made the information public, it’s harder to track down everyone who’s using the information and getting it corrected.
Other Quick Tips from Common …read more

There are times when it’s important to pore over a document (or a video, or whatnot), refining until you’ve got it perfect.
Then there’s the rest of the time, when getting close to perfect probably took more time than the task was worth.

If you find it difficult to complete tasks because the thought of making a small mistake interferes with your sleep, you need to take a few chill pills and call me in the morning.
The advantage of good enough is that you can do it quickly.  In the time it would take to endlessly recraft a message, you can …read more

It sucks to be Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales.
First there was the very public break-up with a lover. Now rumors of sloppy handling of his personal expenses at Wikimedia.
Take two “no comments” and call me in the morning?
His official statement would normally be a good deflection of comments in the media:
“The board, the current executive director, the previous executive director, and independent auditors have reviewed our books and publicly agree that all of my expenses were appropriate and fully accounted for.”
But in the chatty, interconnected world of a web celebrity, there seems to be no such thing as a story …read more