Category: Journalism

News Media by Joe Wilcox
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Pop Trial Balloons, Don’t Float Them

During Amazon’s fourth quarter 2013 earnings conference call, on Jan. 30, 2014, CFO Tom Szkutak said something surprising: “With the increased cost of fuel and transportation as well as the increased usage among Prime members we’re considering increasing the price of Prime between $20 to $40 in the U.S”. The retailer revealed the actual price increase three days ago, effective March 20.

That tip-off is excellent example about the ways companies float trial balloons and how the news media distributes them. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines trial balloon as “a project or scheme tentatively announced in order to test public opinion”. The Wikipedia definition, which “needs additional citations” fits with my own: “A trial balloon is information sent out to the media in order to observe the reaction of an audience”.

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News Media by Joe Wilcox
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Remember, Everybody Lies

Posting today, JR Raphael review “In depth: What Asus’s $179 Chromebox is actually like to use” is excellent cautionary tale in responsible reporting. Companies exert as much influence as they can get away with when interacting with product reviewers, who should always expect trickery.

The Chromebox supposedly ships with 2GB of RAM, which in my testing is really insufficient for Chrome OS. Users can make-do with so little, but many will want more. Asus gives where it shouldn’t.

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Journalism by Joe Wilcox
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Write Affirmatively!

Your writing should have voice and authority, something present-tense helps achieve. Some sense of you should slip through, too.

Journalism schools perpetrate a great urban legend—that news reporting is unbiased, objective. There is no such thing. All reporting is biased by factors immeasurable. Consider culture as one filter. Political preference is another. Education. Economic class. Heck, whether someone uses Android or iPhone influences perspective.

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News Media by Joe Wilcox
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Hello, Responsible Reporting

Today, the ebook formally known as Be a Better Blogger published to Amazon, Google, and Smashwords ebook stores. Title—drum roll, please—Responsible Reporting: Field Guide for Bloggers, Journalists, and Other Online News Gatherers.

As explained in post “Bye, Bye, Be a Better Blogger“, I launched a 28-day crowdfunding campaign to raise enough money to spend two months researching and writing the book. But the campaign lost money and wasted valuable time. You can always get more money, but time is a commodity never regained.

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News Media by Joe Wilcox
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Bye, Bye, Be a Better Blogger

I would like to thank everyone who contributed to my Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign, which ended at 11:59:59 p.m. PT on February 28. I set a $7,500 goal and raised $135—disastrous, disappointing end to the 28-day effort.

Be a Better Blogger is my fifth non-fiction title, none exceptionally long, published since August 2013. Sales disappoint; being an independent publisher is much more difficult than expected. By crowdfunding, I set two goals: To receive the equivalent of a publisher’s advance and to earn something from my writing efforts. I failed. The only contributors are people I know, while the campaign lost money and wasted valuable time. You can always get more money, but time is a commodity never recovered.

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Society by Joe Wilcox
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Mob Journalism shouldn’t take away an Olympic Gold Medal

As I write, 1.7 million people have signed a Change.org petition to: “Open investigation into judging decisions of Women’s Figure Skating and demand rejudgement at the Sochi Olympics”. The signatories and the news media’s response to them is classic example of “Mob Journalism”, a term first used on this blog in April 2010.

I coined Mob Journalism, or thought so four years ago, to define a populist response that is a social media byproduct. Services like Change.org, Facebook, Twitter, and others with online reach, enable the mob (referring to the masses not the mafia) to have a much louder voice. That’s quickly, too, unlike letter-writing campaigns used by protesters of earlier eras. Rapid response benefits societies, as explained in June 2009 analysis “Iran and the Internet Democracy“. The news media’s response is another matter.

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News Media by Joe Wilcox
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A Tale of Two Press Releases

As my Be a Better Blogger book crowfdunding campaign winds down, I will document steps taken to achieve the goal, which with eight days to go looks less likely by the hour.

On February 17, I hired a consultant, to offer guidance, do social media shoutouts, and reach out to bloggers and journalists, which includes distributing a press release. I rewrote the PR, nearly 80 percent. I present both versions for your review.

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Aspiration by Joe Wilcox
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Be a Better Crowdfunder

To date, my Indiegogo campaign for book Be a Better Blogger is a money loser. Costs exceed the pittance of contributions, and I appreciate every one made. Make no mistake, if you contributed—thank you! But with 11 days to go, and  the campaign about 1.8 percent funded, absolute failure looms large.

So with little to lose, but more money, I hired one of several crowdfunders that emailed or commented soon after the campaign’s launch. I don’t expect much from the $149 fee, which gets me one hour consultation, press release, PR distribution, journalist outreach, and feed submission (whatever that means). But I did receive important insight, which is more a lesson about interacting with others rather than working alone.

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