PR Blog News

New York One has been a staple for us die hard news junkies for years. At its launch in 1992 it was an audacious experiment - a 24 hour TV channel devoted exclusively to New York City news. What was a pioneer move then now seems obvious - New York is its own news cycle. The city never stops so why should the news?

But NY1 never grabbed the essence of the news in New York.  After 12 years NY1 still seems like a quaint experiment and “quaint” is not how you want to characterize New York news. The days of Weegee scrambling after curbside shootings may be over but this is New York - we need some outsized personality with our news, especially in the digital age when TV viewership is shrinking.

Well, NBC has announced that it is launching a 24 hour cable TV station devoted to New York news. The bigger news behind that announcement is how they intend to do it.

From NYTimes: “NBC’s plan calls for rebuilding Channel 4’s newsroom and melding its content closely with the new channel, as well as an existing locally oriented Web site and video displayed in places like gas pumps and taxi back seats. NBC will even take WNBC’s name off the Web site, wnbc.com, simply calling it NBC New York. Local news will still be shown on Channel 4.

The reason for the this “content-centric” approach is simple: we are getting more and more of our information from a variety of sources - for the first time people are getting more of their news from the web than from print or television.

This trend will continue and accelerate, and it radically changes the dynamic of how public relations services are conceived, packaged and delivered.

Related News: Bloomberg LLP plans expansion of news services. Norman Pearlstine, former top editor of Time Inc. and The Wall Street Journal,  joins Bloomberg as Chief Content Officer.

Almost a year ago I wrote in PRBlogNews:

Rough day? Put it in perspective. The day before he was assassinated Martin Luther King gave a speech in which you are certain he knows he will be killed shortly. You can see it in his eyes, hear it in his voice, he carries it in his body. He’s been to the mountaintop, seen the promised land, he is ready to be taken.

The next day Robert Kennedy has to deliver the news of Martin Luther King’s death to an audience in Indianapolis. He quotes his favorite poet, Escalus, recounts the death of his brother, and asks for understanding, love and compassion between all people.

See videos of MLK & RFK and the rest of the story in MLK & RFK Brothers in battle

Today, I received the following comment on that post, a testimony to random acts of kindness and the long tail of the blogosphere. In the post I quote Escalus.

Thanks for posting this brief and thoughtful summary. It seems every year NPR posts a reminder of these brave acts and a search on Escalus brought me here.

There was a different buzz to NY Video 2.0 at Webster Hall in Manhattan last Thursday - it was the buzz of money. Although there was a sparse showing when Yaron asked for VCs and financiers to raise their hands - they were engaged, it was real and the ‘money’ contingent is growing. Nothing sharpens your focus like the smell of money. That was evident in the sharp presentations and the pace of the show.  At its second turn at Webster Hall, NYV2 has settled into being a show, as it should be. And since this is New York the audience embodies a high degree of skepticism and discernment.  As it should.

Trickster Makes This World may be the Koran of the PR business but Slikstr mocks the web 2.0 phenom with such aplomb that it took a while to figure out it was a big goof on social media. A “customer generated company” looking to raise $2 million in backing, with a vague business plan and a slick video pitch - seemed real enough. To spoof without insulting is a talent that escapes many of us, including some in the audience who nervously laughed when they realized the joke was them - all of us really.

Matt Feldman of neovids.tv presented Slikstr like Philip Marlowe if he was 20 years younger, born 50 years later, and was determined to be a macher in the space where the web and video and entertainment converge - the space we would all like to live in.  

Slikstr has positioned itself as the world’s first user-created and -controlled company in the world and, as such, is poised to usher in a new generation of web-related businesses. - from the Slikstr business plan

The question is - can you make money in that coveted video-web-entertainment triangle? Consider Damon Wayans’ big move to web TV and his belief that Hollywood-caliber talent has a big growing market on the web.  He calls “his legacy” Wayout TV, a multiplatform production company that has been incubating shows for the internet. (See Madison + Vine story).

Update:  http://nyvideo.org  is now a portal to the Meetup site, the Ning has been deactivated.

RELATED: Jan 30, 2008 PRBlogNews: NYC Video 2.0 Finds the Perfect Venue

- photos of Webster Hall by Mark Rose

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You’d think that if you were a web 2.0 god, tied to the hip forever with Robert Scoble, the reluctant ubiquitous uber blogger and uniquely awful videographer, you would stake your claim to the web by reserving the domain of your name - ShelIsrael.com  - like 10 years ago.

Well, Loren Feldman, who has been unmercifully and hilariously mocking Shel on 1938Media for the past two weeks now owns ShelIsrael. And he’s replaced him with a puppet. Not surprisingly, the puppet of Shel is much more entertaining than Shel himself. In fact, I was on the floor, on my side, gasping from uncontrolled laughter watching the video below.  Shel finally found his purpose in web 2.0 - he is the inspiration for great video theatrical parody.

I have to say that what has disturbed me most about Shel is that he is one of the most notable instigators of the mealy pseudo British term kerfuffle which, in Brooklyn terms, means ‘kick in the balls’ but in polite British circles might mean ‘how dare you drop a cookie in my tea.’

What is really funny is that now Feldman owns shel@shelisrael.com and someone named ShelMaster was been imitating the real Shel Israel, leaving comments on 1938Media, threatening retaliation, although he links back to ShelIsrael.com. The pupeteering of Shel Israel.

The catalyst for this sudden rise in Shel Israel mockery is the launch of the new dreadful attempt by Fast Company to enter new media with Israel as old wheezing geezer. How long before they pull the plug on Global Neighborhoods  or do we really have to survive weeks of a thrilling series on “PR measurement”?

The Life Aquatic with Shel Israel

SPECIAL BONUS VIDEO

Shel Israel Interviews the Construction Worker in the Village People

Once again it’s time for my favorite Meetup, NY Video 2.0, now at the legendary Webster Hall in Manhattan. Check out the cool new NYV2 networking site.

See PRBlogNews post on last meeting: NYC Video 2.0 finds perfect venue.

March Demos:
CBS Interactive - Sean Tice, Web Producer
PermissionTV - John Zahner, Senior Vice President
SeeToo - Yoav Ilan, Co-Founder
Review Basics - Mike Grushin, Partner, CTO
NeoVids.tv - Matthew Feldman, Co-Founder & Producer

When?
Thursday, Mar 27, 2008, 7:00 PM

Obama bounces, Hillary flattens.  Twists and turns in the Demo Presidential campaign got a little wilder this week with Bill Richardson, aka Wolfman Jack, the latest ‘friend’ to turn on Hillary Clinton. It’s almost like “March of the Demos” as one by one the big honchos - Kerry, Kennedy, Richardson - dive into the icy waters that bring the Party closer to the brink of self-annihilation. If Nancy Pelosi announces for Obama the gig could be up for Hillary. Frank Rich, the liberal standard bearing columnist for The New York Times, ganged up on Hillary this week, the one two punch with the ever-snarky Maureen Dowd.

Retired Gen. Tony McPeak, an Obama surrogate, compared Bill Clinton to Joe McCarthy at a rally in Portland, Oregon. James Carville said the Richardson endorsement of Obama “came right around the anniversary of the day when Judas sold out for 30 pieces of silver.” More incoming every day as McCain acts Presidential in jaunts around Europe and Middle East with the ever-fawning Joe Lieberman at his side as Clinton-Obama turns into a rock-em-sock-em bare knuckles fight to the finish. 

Hang the PR Guy That’s what former Governor Eliot Spitzer tried to do when we first reported on “TrooperGate” last August in the PRBlogNews post Free Darren Dopp - NY Gov Flack Takes Fall. According to a NY Times story released this evening Spitzer was deeply involved in trying to discredit New York State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and he expected to sacrifice his PR guy to investigators. “Dopp is suffering for Spitzer’s sins. The Flack is not that expendable, and loyalty is not that cheap,” we wrote last August.  The incident was an early indicator that Spitzer was out of control - a “spoiled brat” as Bruno referred to him.

Peter Shankman gets coverage for himself in The New York Times (“In Helping Journalists, a Publicist Helps Himself”) by plugging reporters into his growing network of sources. See the newly launched HelpAReporter (could this put ProfNet out of business?).

Loren Feldman has the killer instinct, with a playful edge. When he gets hold of Jason McCabe Calacanis or Robert Scoble or Juila Alison or Seesmic he’s like a cat with a mouse. He likes to play around with his prey before administering the coup de grâce.  Poor Shel Israel. He probably thought he had a nice gig with Fast Company interviewing web 2.o marginal celebs. See video below for Loren’s first shot at Shel and Fast Company and see 1938Media for hilarious follow-ups including “Fast Company Puppet Theater.”

I have never believed in the notion that the media is inherently liberal. Not while pasty white guys on Fox and Rush Limbaugh and crowd tap into huge audiences with liberal-bashing tirades that are more reality-show style entertainment than any measure of political discourse. The right wing has its own very effective media cabal that rivals anything The New York Times can pump out -they have become masters of media on TV, the radio, and the Internet.

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We are heading to a recession, if we are not there already. That’s when the PR industry begins to quake and tremble and budgets are indiscriminately slashed and AEs start jumping out windows. OK, maybe it’s not that dramatic, but the PR business is no fun - for agency owners, account people, or clients - during a recession. Why should this time be different?

There is one big difference: Digital communications and new media have opened up new distribution channels for PR and require a new set of skills from savvy PR people. Clients are beginning to realize the powerful ROI possible through creative online communication programs. Online communications is redefining the PR industry. Traditionalists, bigger agencies tied to old methods and operations, will suffer greater during a recession 

WPP is trying to cash in on the PR 2.0 move. WPP is listed in Wikipedia as “one of the world’s largest communications services groups.” Among WPP’s PR holdings are Hill and Knowlton, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, Burson-Marsteller and Cohn & Wolfe.

Sir Martin Sorrell (left, with finger raised), CEO of WPP,  singled out the positive impact “new technologies” are having on WPP’s public relations operations, due to increased demand from clients for “editorial publicity through fast-growing new applications of new technology such as MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, Flickr and Wikipedia,” Sir Martin wrote in his year-end update for shareholders.

Huh? Editorial publicity to Wikipedia? I thought Wikipedia was supposed to be an accurate, objective source for information, not a malleable online flack catcher. 

Anyway, Sir Martin is following the money. Traditional public relations practices can be more time-consuming and less effective than digital PR that takes control of the creation, packaging and distribution of news and information. Distribution is the key. With the Internet distribution is free and only limited by your imagination. It takes time (billable hours) but there is no barrier to entry into the global info marketplace.

During a recession maximum value-added becomes becomes the prime motivator in the engagement of services - especially a service as intangible as public relations. 

Related, see: Media, Interactive Services Propel WPP Growth: Social Nets Prove A Boon For PR, Not Advertising from Online Media Daily.

The Governor of New York Disappears - ”Kristen” Goes Down, Resurfaces - The stunning fall and demise of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer occured in its entirety last week. You could not escape Spitzer and every unfolding minute revelation of his prostitution addiction in print, on TV, radio, or in casual conversation and now poof! he is gone from politics and the news. Tomorrow, David Paterson is sworn in as the new Gov and the transition is complete.

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So “Kristen” is Monica Lewinsky who was Donna Rice, who is every middle age man’s young girl fantasy. Kristen is 22 (that’s a young girl to me), or 26 years younger than Eliot the horny Gov. Another perverse way of looking at it, she is five years older than Eliot’s oldest daughter. Tell me what the therapist bills are going to be in the Spitzer family for this generation and the next. 

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