Two rants today. Digital madness, and on a related note, the headlong and frequently ill-conceived descent into that madness by newspapers and other text-driven media. Going Digital If you’re a journalist and you want to survive in these here modern times, there is one thing that you simply must do: slap the word “digital” on everything […]
Meslissa Click please go away
February 18, 2016 by
So the dolt we now know as professor Melissa Click was on CBS This Morning marshalling all of her strategic communications skills in an effort to rehabilitate her soiled image. An image, by the way, she soiled herself when she became the enforcement arm of the victim-culture movement that has sized control of many of […]
Trigger warning: Missouri prof must resign
November 10, 2015 by
In the interest of protecting my back story in case I run for President, I didn’t complete my masters at the University of Missouri, Columbia – but I did visit the campus on a couple of occasions during summer quarter and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the faculty teaching the media management curriculum. Between […]
Death in Virginia
August 26, 2015 by
The specter of death lurks in and around the TV news industry every day. Every reporter and photographer in America can drive around town and point to the spots where they encountered the aftermath of tragedy. Most reporters and photographers also have at least one story of almost “losing it.” I’ve come close to a […]
The AV Nerd Watches the Open
June 18, 2015 by
Proving my credentials as a true broadcast nerd, while I’m dying to watch a bunch of pro golfers curse greens Stimping at 25, what I’m really interested in is seeing how the various broadcast outlets at the tournament handle the difficult lighting situations when it comes to their talent broadcasting from the event. The money […]
An amazing drone
May 13, 2015 by
Ask anybody. I’m the guy who thinks the whole “drone thing” is overblown, and that it probably represents a clear signal of a bubble in the world of high-tech venture capital. I don’t care if you manufacture audio cable or provide payroll services to the film and video industry, your company is selling a drone. […]
Exposure to the system
April 21, 2015 by
FIRST, THE END Later in this blog I’m going to tell you about two amazing conversations I had with a police officer and a prosecutor who both said about the same thing. They were a couple of the most influential off-the-record conversations I’ve ever had. They deeply influenced my approach during the many years I […]
Guilty until proven innocent
April 17, 2015 by
If you’ve read my blog over the years, you know I am a supporter of newspapers in general, and the News Tribune specifically. Today however I am sorely disappointed by the paper’s editorial team and their decision to jump on the bandwagon when it comes to state Auditor Troy Kelley. Kelley may be guilty as […]
Saying it again: It’s the story
April 10, 2015 by
It’s the story that matters. A great New York Times article again reinforces the same idea: that just being “on” social media does next to NOTHING for sales conversions. A lot of people who failed at multi-level marketing and chinchilla farming turned to pumping social media for small business – and sold a lot of […]
Beware the Fool
April 1, 2015 by
On April first, some knuckle-headed media-type loses his or her job broadcasting an April Fools news story. You never know when. You never know where. But at some point today or tomorrow, news will break about an April Fools joke gone wrong and the subsequent firing. The corporate suit or local GM will get to […]
Sinclair (KOMO) and Banjo
March 30, 2015 by
So I’m reading a lengthy write through about a new geo-location app called “Banjo” and thinking to myself, “Wow, the implications for the news business are huge. I wonder if anybody sees this?” Well, sure enough, Sinclair Broadcast Group (SBGI), parent company of KOMO, is playing around with it… apparently as part of a larger […]
Up Periscope
March 27, 2015 by
I did some testing at my full-time gig today (KBTC) with Periscope – Twitter’s new live broadcasting application. Travis Mayfield over at KCPQ was playing around with it today too, and it is very cool. It has already to been used to good effect in association with breaking news at a tragic house fire in […]
Starbucks Race Together. Not
March 22, 2015 by
The coverup is worse than the crime. That is one of the foundational principles of reputation management. Starbuck’s “Race Together” campaign came to an abrupt end on Sunday – a few days after it was savaged in the Twitter-verse – to the point that the company’s Chief of Global Communications quit Twitter – temporarily. Howard Schultz said […]
Sorry Apple TV – Jeannie is on her way
March 17, 2015 by
You heard it here first, set top boxes (or sticks) are a transitional technology. The Genie ( and I hope it’s Jeannie) is about to leap our of her bottle. Right now you can buy about a dozen so-called “over the top” TV technologies that come with all kinds of boxes with which you can […]
Hyping Drones – Enough Already
March 16, 2015 by
The shiny new object in news gathering is the drone. If you listen to the hype, it will replace reporters, camera crews and perhaps even sliced bread. It’s bunk. But that won’t stop the entire exhibition hall at this year’s NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) annual shindig from being given over to the whizzing miniatures […]
News Tribune in a Vice
March 13, 2015 by
Media doesn’t typically cover media anymore, which is why this blog may well be the only news you hear about all the changes that are likely coming to the News Tribune over the course of the next year. Vice President of News for the Sacramento-based McClatchy Company Anders Gyllenhall recently laid out a robust new […]
