Newsworthiness Is Now A Personality Trait

Looking at the “meatier” newspapers, the New York Times and the Washington Post, the headlines are dominated by sequester developments. Across several stories, politics are at the vanguard of their publications. I suspect that may be an anomaly due to the unprecedented political drama unfolding on Capitol Hill at the moment. The sound bite politics of an all-day, all-year election cycle mean that the partisan drama of our democracy will remain at the forefront as long as grandstanding remains the preferred form of “governance.” I would like to believe this is a recent development.

On both sites, priority is given to the opinion section after politics. I would venture a guess that this is because the opinion columns are the biggest draw for readers but the editors understand that they cannot lead with Ross Douthat or Ezra Klein. From this observation, I assert that a key tenet of newsworthiness is the view of news personalities.

This makes sense because hard news cannot be made as entertaining as a first person narrative or the more interesting partisan arguments of known personalities. News stories are being overlooked because the headline says as much as many readers are interested in. Opinion columns and blogs can take sides and be offensive, personal, or so many other things more interesting than cold, hard journalism. It is the difference between Transformers 3 and Ken Burns’ The Dust Bowl.

Public relations is much more than arranging celebrity endorsements, but the public opinion of known personalities has great weight today. Practitioners should consider the growing importance of this trend when considering newsworthiness. However, the alternative to winning over a public figure is creating a vocal, public persona for yourself or your CEO. I expect to see more “newsworthy” CEO personalities in the coming years, as we have seen recently with Jamie Dimon or Lloyd Blankfein.

Matt Levine and Risa Sherman: Alums On Doing What You Love

Matt Levine and Risa Sherman are both graduates of Newhouse, the former as an undergrad journalist and the latter as a masters student of public relations. Matt is the chief operational officer of the National Foundation to End Senior Hunger (NFESH), while Risa works in a Boston communications firm that focuses on corporate responsibility and cause-related marketing. Both have nontraditional careers built around giving back. Risa doesn’t work at a non-profit like Matt but her job is closely related.

Risa facilitates corporate philanthropy to organizations like NFESH. Large firms will come to her for a consultation on how to better connect with their stakeholders, and Risa connects the business with the right cause. Making that connection is not sufficient, as Risa detailed how the company’s interests must be aligned to sincerely support the chosen cost. To my surprise, she said that her communications firm will turn down a potential client if their interest in philanthropy seems purely superficial. The cause-related branch of communications does seem to work in practice if the giving organization has enough buy-in. Her job is not simply telling firms to tie their level of giving to the amount of sales. Customers, and stakeholders in general, respond more positively to a less cynical, more constructive, affiliation with a cause.

Matt was quite thankful for firms like Risa’s steering donations towards organizations like his. NFESH is a spinoff from Meals On Wheels, where Matt specialized in development. The difference between the two is subtle but important. NFESH wants to do what Meals On Wheels does – feed the most vulnerable in society – but it wants to develop sustainable plans to achieve that end. Matt considers the work of Meals On Wheels to be vital but wholly unsustainable, a Band-Aid on a gaping wound. Communicating that difference to donors and the general public is his current task.

I found it interesting that both are in niche corners of the communications field. The nontraditional nature of their careers begets the possibility of building my own career in places not considered previously.

Mark Cuban, MFFL

Mark Cuban wears many hats. Many are familiar with his billionaire entrepreneur hat. Fewer are as familiar with his philanthropist hat. But everyone, in the realm of sports at least, knows Mark Cuban’s MFFL hat. Mavs Fan For Life.

The ultra-competitive Cuban can usually be seen on television behind the bench during Dallas Mavericks games. The cameras particularly like his reactions to controversial calls. The sports reporters afterward REALLY like his reactions to controversial calls. A wildly successful businessman across industries, it is quite obvious that the Mavs are more than just a business venture to him. His blog on the Mavs’ website could belong to any fan.

As such, I think the blog works to endear Cuban to employees and fans. He shares emails from fans along with his thoughts on ownership. It’s clear that nobody is writing the blog for him, although he might benefit from someone proofreading it. The average fan is probably surprised, as I was, that he even takes the time to write a blog when he has so many other business ventures to look after. It is clear that he treats the Mavs organization as more of a passion than a job.

His blog fits perfectly with the rest of the organization’s public relations effort because the team’s ethos is so Cuban-centric. He is their public relations strategy. He speaks for the team, Mavs fans, and oftentimes fans around the league when he opens his mouth to talk about the state of the game. The pros of Cuban’s blog are apparent, and I cannot find any real cons. As far as the Mavs organization is concerned, the more exposure for him the better.

A Waitress, A Pastor, And A Bill Walk Into An Applebee’s...

What sounds like the worst opening for a joke, maybe ever, has turned into a thoroughly unpleasant experience for at least two people. Last month’s Applebee’s controversy surrounding a non-tipping St. Louis pastor and a fired waitress is entirely baffling in scope. By itself, the picture of the check with a snarky note written on it is an amusing reminder of how arrogant people can be. Add the Internet and, suddenly, it’s not just newsworthy. It’s sensational.

My first reaction to the story is “holy heck, Reddit is officially mainstream!” For the past several years, news organizations have been busily trying to make the happenings of Facebook and Twitter newsworthy. Easy human-interest pieces abound. Funny pictures making the rounds on Facebook or the Twitter reactions of celebrities to events can fill a paper at a minimal cost. More recently, however, it seems that reporters are looking beyond the confines of Facebook and Twitter, to the more dangerous realms of Reddit and 4chan. The latter has forced itself into the spotlight with the Anonymous hacking circle.

But both contain content of a broad variety, from the hilarious to the incredibly disturbing. Maybe that’s why this development amuses me so much: the image of a veteran news editor at his or her desk, stumbling around Reddit, clicking on the wrong section, and finding something truly horrifying. In this case pastor Alois Bell and ex-waitress Chelsea Welch seem to have been particularly unlucky. The Internet is full of funny pictures of identifiable people doing stupid things. Somehow this one made it viral. I’m interested to see what future story dredged from the bottom of the Internet will make it viral in quite the same way.

Social Sandy

As waves and hurricane-force winds battered New York and New Jersey during Sandy, the storm’s social media presence swept over the rest of the world. From jokes and warnings beforehand to fear-tinged updates during and pure awe of the damage afterward, Sandy was experienced online, as a hurricane never has before. Nobody was sure what to make of the National Weather Service’s early doom-and-gloom forecast. There was no such confusion in the aftermath as pictures of the damage exploded virally.

Doctored photos of the storm’s eye framed over the Statue of Liberty or sharks in the streets of Manhattan were shared by hundreds of thousands. Some of the real damage needed no Photoshop for shock value. I saw a house floating down a river in Connecticut where only the roof showed above the water, and the images of the flooded subway system were surreal. As if flowing water in Lower Manhattan was not jarring enough.

Everyone was posting about Sandy. Companies have been criticized for using what became a deadly storm to shamelessly promote a special deal on their products. People felt compelled to post about Sandy, and I have a friend that even live-tweeted the whole storm as the story developed. And after, social media played a big role in relief efforts. Facebook events and Twitter hashtags helped organize volunteers and solicit donations. Also, social media played a big role in promoting the benefit 12/12/12 concert for Sandy relief. It didn’t hurt that Kanye wore a skirt.

I think this is just the nature of global events from now on. Singular events have for a long time been able to garner media attention and capture the world’s imagination, but now social media has given millions their own soapbox to stand on before, during, and after.