Tag Archives: Agility Influencer Targeting

Media News & Moves for May

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MEDIAware, PR Newswire’s Audience Research Department newsletter, features recent media news and job changes in the industry. Here is a sampling of this month’s edition:

Fort Lauderdale’s South Florida Sun Sentinel (http://www.sun-sentinel.com) won the prestitgious 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for its outstanding series “Above the Law: Speeding Cops”.  The series led to numerous police officers being suspended and one who got fired for his excessive abuse of speed. Investigative Reporter Sally Kestin, Investigative Editor John Dahlburg and Database Editor John Maines were part of an entire team at the Sun Sentinel that worked on this series. You can read the winning series here: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/speeding-cops/

The Denver Post (http://www.denverpost.com) won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News with its coverage of the Aurora Movie Theater mass shooting last year.  The Pulitzer cited the Post’s use of social media, video and the written word in their winning coverage of the story. You can check out their winning coverage here: http://www.pulitzer.org/works/2013-Breaking-News-Reporting

The Alcohol Professor (http://AlcoholProfessor.com) is a new blog about liquor, spirits & ale. It was started by beverage connoisseur Adam Levy (https://twitter.com/AlcoholProfessr) who also founded the New York International Beverage Competitions. The sites main contact is Senior Editor-in-Chief Amanda Schuster (alcoholprofamanda@gmail.com).

Minneapolis’ Star Tribune (http://www.startribune.com) won two 2013 Pulitzer Prizes for Local News and Ediorial Cartooning. Glenn Howatt, Brad Schrade and Jeremy Olson won the Local News Pulitzer for their work on a series about the rise in infant deaths at Minnesota day-care centers. You can read that series here: http://www.startribune.com/local/150283965.html. And Steve Sack won the Editorial Cartooning award. You can view a bunch of his great political cartoons here: http://www.pulitzer.org/works/2013-Editorial-Cartooning

Columnist Daniel Ruth and Editorial Editor Tim Nickens won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing for the Tampa Bay Times (http://www.tampabay.com). Their op-ed pieces and columns were a campaign that helped reverse a decision to take fluoridation out of the water system in the area. You can check out pieces of their work here: http://www.pulitzer.org/works/2013-Editorial-Writing

The New York Times has made its own crossover as for the first time ever, they have published an article in Spanish. “A Drug War Informer in No Man’s Land” will go down in NYT history.
You can read it in Spanish here: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/us/mexico-dea-fugitive.html or in English here: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/us/us-mexico-dea-informant.html?pagewanted=all 

Representing The New York Times in the category of Investigative Journalism, David Barstow (barstow@nytimes.com) and Alejandra Xanic von Bertrab were selected as Pulitzer Prize winners for their year and a half long project which centered on Walmart’s interests in Mexico. The journalists investigated the Multinational Retail Corporation’s use of coercion as a means to gain a competitive advantage in Mexico. Eventually, the exposé led to an investigation by the Justice Department into whether Walmart violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

A series of 10 articles which covered the business practices of Apple and other technology companies, won a group of journalists at The New York Times a Pulitzer Prize in the category of Explanatory Journalism. The series focused on the question of whether or not the United States could be considered a lucrative place for innovators to manufacture new products. Apple’s choice to employ cheaper manufacturers in China, passing over the opportunity to invest in the United States’ turbulent job market, was one example used in the series. The reporters included Keith Bradsher (https://twitter.com/KeithBradsher), David Barboza (barboza@nytimes.com), Charles Duhigg (duhigg@nytimes.com), David Kocieniewski (kocieniewski@nytimes.com), Steve Lohr (lohr@nytimes.com), John Markoff (https://twitter.com/markoff), David Segal, David Streitfeld (https://twitter.com/DavidStreitfeld), Hiroko Tabuchi (https://twitter.com/HirokoTabuchi), and Bill Vlasic (vlasic@nytimes.com).

The Pulitzer Prize in the category of International Reporting was given to David Barboza (https://twitter.com/DavidBarboza2), Shanghai Bureau Chief of The New York Times. Barboza composed a series of articles that focused on the overwhelming wealth which many of China’s top leaders have kept in hiding. According to Barboza, over the span of a year he “pieced together hundreds of names and a web of connections among more than 100 companies found in China’s official financial records.”

Sports Reporter for The New York Times John Branch (https://twitter.com/JohnBranchNYT) was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in the category of Feature Writing. Branch composed an article entitled “Snow Fall: the avalanche at Tunnel Creek,” about a fatal avalanche in the Washington Cascades. Branch combined text, online video and graphics to vividly illustrate what took place.

The Pilot newspaper in Southern Pines, N.C. is launching yet another magazine. It already publishes PineStraw and O. Henry. Now it adds Salt magazine to its line-up of cultural publications. As with the other magazines, Jim Dodson will head up Salt as Editor. The free, monthly magazine is scheduled to launch later this month with a distribution of 18,000.

Following up on a Charlotte, N.C. story previously reported on in MEDIAware, the FCC gave final approval on the sale of WYMT-TV and WJYZ-TV to Fox Television. With the ruling, the stations were free to hire more personnel. Lynda Grahl was chosen as VP of Finance and Jay Abbattista was added as VP of Sales. Both report to the previously hired GM Karen Adams. As a result of this purchase by Fox, another local Charlotte station, WCCB-TV, will switch affiliations from Fox to the CW this summer.

There have been two personnel changes at the Cooking Channel and Food Network. VP of Digital for Emerging Brands Mark Levine (mlevine@scrippsnetworks.com) has been promoted to VP of Programming and Multiplatform. And new to the stations is Todd Weiser, who was hired as VP of Programming and Development. He arrives from Animal Planet, where he was previously Director of Development.

After 21 years in print, The Rhinocerous Times (http://greensboro.rhinotimes.com) is now an endangered species. The publication originally had two editions: Greensboro and Charlotte. It folded the Charlotte edition back in 2008. Now with a growing debt, the Greensboro edition is closing as well. The website will remain but for how long is not known.

Culture Critic Philip Kendicott of The Washington Post won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. In one of the articles submitted for the award Philip examined the use of controversial photographs in the media. You can read the piece here: http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-12-27/entertainment/36016736_1_images-subway-track-pleasure

Aereo (https://www.aereo.com)has been hit with a copyright lawsuit by almost every major network trying to prevent Aereo from creating a free streaming of their content. This is something to keep an eye on, as it can change the way networks will distribute its content if Aereo wins the case.

KSL-TV, the Salt Lake City NBC affiliate, has announced on its Facebook page as well as its website that it will no longer air episodes of the network series “Hannibal.” This decision was made due to the extensive graphic nature of this show. The time slot will be replaced with a special edition of KSL 5 News at 9 pm. “Hannibal” is a TV show about serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a literary character created by author Thomas Harris and initially made famous by the movie “The Silence of the Lambs.”

KMOV-TV in St.Louis won the 2012 Investigative Reporters and Editors Award. Craig Cheatham and Jim Thomas won in the category of “Ware Zone: The Destruction of an All-American City.” Read more at http://www.mediabistro.com/tvspy/kmov-wfaa-win-ire-awards_b86802

Mike Herrera, Long-time New Orleans broadcaster, passed on April 6 at the age of 66. Herrera who for the last five years served as an engineer at WWL-TV previously worked as a staff announcer, Weathercaster and Producer/Director at WVUE-TV for more than four decades.

William Glaberson says farewell to The New York Times. His 25-year career at the newspaper came to a halt on April 26th. He most recently served as Court Reporter, throughout these 25 years he covered Guantanamo Bay and the Crown-Heights trail.

Highly respected Chicago Sun-Times Movie Critic Roger Ebert has passed away. Over the course of his expansive career, Ebert hosted various television programs such as “Sneak Previews”, “At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert”, “Siskel and Ebert and The Movies”, alongside Gene Siskel, and the series “Ebert & Roeper & the Movies”. He also produced his most recent show, “Ebert Presents: At the Movies”. Ebert was an author of more than 20 books and won a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.

Nils Larsen has stepped down as CEO at the Tribune Company. He managed Tribune local stations, WGN America and WGN Radio. Jonathan Wax has been named Senior Vice President of scripted programming for WGN America. Wax currently serves as Vice President of drama development at Twentieth Century Fox, Inc.

Edible Milwaukee, a new magazine set to launch its May issue, will focus on the production, distribution and consumption of food in the greater Milwaukee area. The magazine reaches out to the local and regional food consumers and buyers who are zealous about food quality. Jen Ede will serve as Publisher and Editor for the quarterly. You may reach her at jen@ediblemilwaukee.com or http://ediblemilwaukee.com.

You can view the whole May issue of MEDIAware here: http://www.prnewswire.com/knowledge-center/mediaware/

And all of the Regional Updates here: http://www.prnewswire.com/knowledge-center/mediaware/May-2013-Updates-By-Region.html

You can also follow all of the latest media moves and news from PR Newswire’s Audience Research Department on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/PRNmedia

Blog Notes: TV, Personal Finance, Style & Home Remedies

roundup9Blog Notes is a weekly helping of blogs recently reviewed on PR Newswire for Bloggers. Would you like your blog reviewed? Tweet PR Newswire media relations manager Christine Cube at @PRN4Bloggers.

TV Fanatic is a big source for TV news, reviews, spoilers, photos, and information. “Our team of writers and programmers work around the clock to bring readers the latest stories, pics and quotes from the most popular shows on the air,” says the blog. TV Fanatic covers spoilers, exclusives, clips, casting news, and caption contests. Content is overseen by editor-in-chief Matt Richenthal, whose favorite shows include Lost, Modern Family, Friday Night Lights, and Dexter. TV Fanatic is owned and operated by Mediavine Inc., an Internet marketing company that specializes in entertainment-themed sites. It also has 866K likes on Facebook. Read the full review on PR Newswire for Bloggers here.

The word “oblivious” in the name of the financial blog Oblivious Investor might sound like a bad thing. This might imply a lack of knowledge or awareness. But in this blog, being oblivious is not a bad thing at all. The author’s goal is to direct readers’ attention away from day-to-day obsessions of the market. Be oblivious to that, and you’ll be ok. Additionally, if you diversify your portfolio and minimize costs, you’ll be even better off. The Oblivious Investor is written by Mike Piper. He’s married and lives in St. Louis. Read the full review here.

Stylonylon is the whimsical personal style, fashion and lifestyle blog of London freelancer Julia Rebaudo. Rebaudo has written for different media outlets, including Time Out, Elle and The Guardian. She says her blog is a “mixture of beautiful things that have caught my eye, interviews, occasional fashion news (new collections, trend & outfit collages, various edits), outfit posts, photography chat and Instagram pics” with an east London focus. It’s a fairly young blog, started last spring 2012. Already, Stylonylon has built quite a following with roughly 10,000 pageviews monthly, up from 1,000 pageviews just last October. Read the full review here.

fiveRemedies.com is dedicated to helping folks heal naturally with simple home remedies. It’s an interesting site, and it covers a lot of territory. In addition to remedies, other content includes organic living, herbal remedies, alternative medicines, homeopathy, naturopathy, and other forms of alternative and complementary medication. FiveRemedies.com is an online media firm owned by GoodWebDomains. There are no bylines or names attached to the extensive write ups on health issues. But it’s pretty cool what the site has to say about various ailments. Here’s one that I found interesting: Natural remedies for muscle strain and sprain. Read the full review here.

Christine Cube is a media relations manager with PR Newswire and freelance writer. You can follow her at @cpcube or see what’s happening over at @PRN4Bloggers.

Potent & Creative Content Earns Attention: See The EARNIES Winners!

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Earlier this month, we announced the winners of our 2nd earned media awards program, The Earnies.  The caliber of work was impressive and is testament to the fact that PR professionals and marketers are truly pushing creative boundaries and thinking outside the box to successfully connect with their audiences and drive business results.  And with thousands of votes cast by our community, this year’s winners can walk away knowing their work was admired not just by us, but by their peers.

The winners are:

The Earnies Grand Prix:   The Advertising Council

Campaign: “FWD Campaign” by the Ad Council and USAID

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A snapshot of the Multimedia News Release used to promote the FWD>> campaign. Click on the image to see the actual MNR.

 In an effort to raise national awareness about the famine, war and drought in the Horn of Africa, The Ad Council joined forces with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and created the FWD (Famine, War, Drought) campaign, encouraging Americans to FWD the facts about the crisis and support relief operations.  By leveraging a variety of social media channel and the influence of their partners, allies and agencies to spread the message, the Ad Council achieved astounding results – reaching millions of people, igniting incredible audience interaction and generating an impressive amount of content surrounding the campaign.

Best Use of Video in Social Media: LatentView Analytics

Campaign: Confessions of a Serial Analyst

In order to showcase their workplace culture, LatentView Analytics tested their filmmaking skills and also put their own in front of the camera. “Confessions of a Serial Analysts” was filmed in their India office and the result was a fun, short film that resulted in thousands of video views and Facebook likes – and gave viewers insight into the world of LatentView Analytics.

Best Connection to Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook Audience: New Media Strategies

Campaign: Engaging the casual wine buyer: The Wine Bar Facebook Community

wine tasting
Diageo Chateau & Estates needed help establishing a social presence for their Lifestyle Wines and attracting a younger demographic of wine drinkers.  After conducting thorough research of the audience, their behaviors, likes and wants, as well as of the competition, New Media Strategies strategically created an editorial calendar which focused on easily digestible and visual content and launched a new Facebook page to reach this audience. The Wine Bar Facebook page quickly became an online wine community that boasts a fan base of 31,000+ with extremely high interaction outpacing the competition

We Can’t Believe That Worked!:New Media Strategies

Campaign: ACCCE “Click-to-Call” Grassroots Advocacy

earnies12-believe-NewMediaACCCE, American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, wanted rally online advocates to take offline action, increase the level of activism and increase online visibility in search and social.  In order to do so, New Media Strategies, needed to identify a way to do so quickly and easily, and motivate “an army of grassroots supporters into a quantifiable result.”  Using a two-fold approach, educate and activate, NMS developed a first-of-its-kind, a click-to-call campaign using Twitter, owned email lists and Facebook to connect local supporters directly to their  state senators.  With 3,300 calls and 41 hours of constituent-to-congressional-office talk time and promoted tweets, ACCCE saw a ~153 percent increase in followers. Furthermore, Twitter and Google used this campaign to create platform case studies, highlighting the success of this campaign as a first-of-its-kind in the advocacy space.

Best Use of Social Listening for Campaign Planning: General Electric

Campaign: HealthyShare: Surprise & Delight

ge tweetLooking to strengthen the public’s association of health and health-related subjects with the General Electric brand, GE developed a campaign that would allow them to have meaningful conversations about health, engage audiences that were interested in such subjects and grow brand enthusiasm.  By using a refined list of Twitter search terms and carefully listening to conversations taking place on Twitter, GE was able to identify a strong audience base to target, establish trust and share healthy gifts that helped generated earned media and new brand advocates.

Best Visual Campaign through Pinterest or Instagram: Fathom

ConsumerCrafts Back-to-School Crafter’s Challenge

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It’s no surprise that the use of visual content is a necessity for ConsumerCrafts, an online craft store that sells affordable arts & craft supplies for jewelry making, scrapbooking, kid’s crafts and more.  So in order to increase Pinterest followers and pins, Fathom and ConsumerCrafts developed a contest that invited users to submit photos of creative kid’s craft projects using back-to-school items.  The winning entry was simply determined by the highest number of repins.  ConsumerCrafts saw a significant increase of blog and website referral traffic, engagement from bloggers promoting the contest, hundreds of repins and was able to identify new followers, as well.

Best Use of an Infographic: Cisco Systems

Campaign: The Internet of Things

earnies12-infographic-CiscoInternetArmed with the understanding that there are more devices tapping into the Internet than people on Earth to use them, Cisco set out to bring awareness that connections to the Internet go way beyond the obvious – computers, tablets and phones – and explain the impact this has on business.  Furthermore, Cisco sought to drive positive conversation around their brand and its role in bringing the network into its current, impressive state.  By creating an infographic and thoughtful messaging to support it, and then promoting it through multiple channels, Cisco’s campaign, “The Internet of Things,” was a huge success.  In fact, Cisco noticed a 30% increase in quantity of conversation and a 7% increase in sentiment; 100MM+ impressions, impressive media pick up and significant social conversation and tweets by thousands, including industry influencers.

Best Global Communications Campaign: Tourico Holidays, Inc

Campaign: Best Hotel Promotion Combined with a Worthy Cause!

earnies12-global-TourisoIn an effort to increase revenue during a one-month global promotion and also raise $40,000 for Give Kids the World Village, Tourico Holidays had to get creative.  By engaging contracted hotels and creating a system that encourages small donations, a match program, along with promotion of the campaign through email, social media, at events and on their website, Tourico was able to increase the number of bookings by 93% and increase revenue by an impressive $685,000.  Before all of the check-ins even occurred, they were able to donate the $40,000 to Give the Kids the World Village and hope to triple that once all hotel check-ins are made.

Best Integrated Campaign on a Shoestring Budget: Gutterglove

Campaign: Gutterglove Brings China Manufacturing Back to California

earnies12-grandprix-GuttergloveGutterglove wanted to bring awareness to the fact that bringing manufacturing back to the U.S. would improve the American economy and began to create the content to do so.  With just $3,000 to spend, Gutterglove was forced to think outside the box.  One of their employees, John Quincy Adams IV, was the descendant of our former presidents and leveraged this fact and incorporated it into messaging to spark additional interest in their story. That, along with a website dedicated to promoting the cause, helped Gutterglove see huge earned media success across broadcast, print and social media.

Best Piece of Branded Content: CSC

Campaign: Connected Consumer

With a new, major Leading Edge Forum (LEF) report, “Connected Consumer and the Future of Financial Services” in hand, CSC wanted to put this piece of content to work to stimulate conversation among the media, analysts and clients, enhance their reputation, promote themselves as thought leaders and generate leads.  By executing a thorough, targeted, multi-channel campaign that considered internal and external stakeholders and influencers, CSC’s campaign was able to do so. By implementing a number of tactics – including live-tweeting of a panel discussion, relevant, third-party blog posts, town halls, dedicated sales tools and more, CSC secured coverage in major financial services outlets,  received enthusiastic feedback from analysts,  garnered more than 40,000 Twitter impressions in just over a week and generated hundreds of leads through downloading of the report.

We were inspired (and a bit awed) by these winning entries, and the runners up.   Our congratulations to the winning entrants, and our hearty thanks to our judges:

And thanks also to YOU, our readers who cast their votes to determine the final winners!

Blog Notes: Design, Lifestyle, Travel & Medicine

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Blog Notes is a weekly helping of blogs recently reviewed on PR Newswire for Bloggers. Would you like your blog reviewed? Tweet PR Newswire media relations manager Christine Cube at @PRN4Bloggers.

I find blogs everywhere. This blog candidate arrived by mail – a catalog from Design Within Reach. The content caught my eye pretty quickly. Then I noticed the blog URL. Design Notes is a look at beautiful architecture, stylish things, and interesting people. I also happen to appreciate the writing in this blog. The most recent piece posted by Gwendolyn Horton was on location with architect Michael P. Johnson. In the post, Johnson says, “One percent of buildings are architecture. The rest are just stuff.” Read the full review on PR Newswire for Bloggers here.

A Daily Pinch is a lifestyle blog written by “an over-achieving, list-making, gets it done gal.” The voice and brain behind it is Lisa Frame, a digital media strategist and community manager who manages the Toyota Women Influencers Network for the Clever Girls Collective, according to the blog. She’s been blogging since 2002. Her most recent post is entitled, Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer is My Life Analogy. “I’m not content to sit back and let life happen around or to me,” Frame says in her post.  Read the full review here.

Booked is the “random, specific and bemused” travel blog of Amy Welborn. One day, while pouring over upcoming writing assignments, Welborn decided she’d much rather be a travel blogger. So she started writing. Then she started traveling. And she kept on writing. It’s worth noting that this site is not a travel advice site. There aren’t many recommendations, either. This is rather an online repository for Welborn’s travels. She also doesn’t do pay for play. In her own words: ”What I won’t do – and you can depend on this – is do product-sponsored posts or reviews of items or accommodations that have been provided to me.  It is just not going to happen. You can trust that everything I experience here has been paid for by me.” Read the full review here.

The Doctor’s Tablet features “reflections from the frontlines of science and medicine.” It’s mostly written by faculty of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University ”about what it’s like to be a physician in today’s rapidly changing world.” This includes the latest in biomedical research, medical education, and health policy, according to the blog. Editing the blog is a team of two: Paul Moniz, managing director of communications and marketing, and David Flores, social media manager. Read the full review here.

Christine Cube is a media relations manager with PR Newswire and freelance writer. You can follow her at @cpcube or see what’s happening over at @PRN4Bloggers.

Media News & Moves for March

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MEDIAware, PR Newswire’s Audience Research Department newsletter, features recent media news and job changes in the industry. Here is a sampling of this month’s edition:

Over the past few years Newsweek Global (https://twitter.com/Newsweek) has endured several foundational changes including a 50/50 partnership with The Daily Beast in 2008 and the groundbreaking announcement of plans to go digital late last year. With a new year and a new digital Newsweek and Daily Beast on the horizon Editor-in-Chief Tina Brown (https://twitter.com/TheTinaBeast) unveiled a new name — NewsBeast.

Beginning in March, readers will notice one notable Editor missing from the Vogue (https://twitter.com/voguemagazine) masthead. Managing Editor Laurie Jones announced that February 28th would be her last day with the mag. Before beginning her iconic tenure with Vogue, Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour was hired by Laurie Jones at New York Magazine. Later Wintour brought Jones over to Vogue where she would become Managing Editor.

The International Herald Tribune, the New York Times Company’s 125-year-old Paris-based newspaper is getting a name change. This Fall the paper will be known as The International New York Times. In addition, the brand change will combine forces between the New York Times website and the Tribune’s to create one international news site for the rest of the world outside of New York, You can check out the newspaper here: http://global.nytimes.com and https://twitter.com/iht.

Global pharmaceutical company SCRIP Intelligence (http://www.scripintelligence.com) names Brett Chase US Companies Editor. Chase was previously Deputy Managing Editor for Crain’s Chicago Business, Deputy Business Editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, health industry team Assignment Editor for Bloomberg News and Milwaukee Bureau Chief of the American Banker in Chicago. Contact Brett on Twitter at https://twitter.com/brettchase

A rash of television station re-designs have occurred this past month with three in the South being updated. WTVC-TV in Chattanooga, WXIA-TV in Atlanta and duopoly WDRB-TV/WMYO-TV in Louisville have all recently undergone renovations. WTVC-TV in TN now features a high definition set with LED color changing lights, large back-lit graphics and a 1×4 strip of monitors in the Weather Center With a rear projection screen.NBC affiliate WXIA now includes a new Gannett graphics package. Also, the set has color changing, frosted plexiglas and flat screen monitors including a large freestanding 3′ by 4′ monitor array. While construction on the set of the Louisville stations has just begun, it is scheduled to be expanded by 11,000 sq. ft. The existing facility dates back to 1980 and is too small for the station, which has grown considerably in that time.

Being a field reporter has its dangers. Just ask News 14 Carolina Reporter Caroline Vandergriff. Vandergriff was struck by a car while reporting on a story about severe weather in the area. While reporting from a major intersection in Charlotte where the traffic lights were out due to the storm, two cars collided after one lost control and struck Vandergriff. She was immediately taken via ambulance to the local hospital where she ended up staying for a week. She is back at work now.

Entertainment Weekly announced two veteran Contributors would bid farewell to the Time Inc. magazine. Senior Writer and Film Critic Lisa Schwarzbaum was the first to accept a buyout package earlier this month. Shortly after TV Critic Ken Tucker followed suit. Tucker was a member of the founding staff of the magazine in 1989. According to Adweek, the buyouts are a result of a 6% overall cutback set in place by publisher Time Inc.

WSB-TV in Atlanta is just one of the many companies in Georgia donating to the relief of tornado victims.After a tornado struck down in Bartow and Gordon counties, the ABC affiliate donated $50,000 to the Red Cross to help victims of the tornado, which spawned winds of more than 135mph. The epi-center of the storm was in Adairsville, Ga., where three fatalities were reported.

WKYT-TV in Lexington is adding another newscast to its line-up. The CBS affiliate will now air news 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. This makes two early afternoon newscasts in the market with WLEX-TV of NBC being the other. WKYT-TV’s news will be anchored  by DeAnn Stephens. She was re-hired specifically for the show. She can be emailed at deann.stephens@wkyt.com. Stephens also can be heard on WBUL-FM in the morning. A pioneer in Carolinas television passed away last month.

Reporter Jane Harrington-Smith passed away at the age of 62 from heart failure. Harrington made history as the first black female Reporter/Anchor at Winston-Salem, N.C. station WXII-TV in the turbulent 70s. She also hosted a weekly program called “Shades of Ebony.” She worked there for six years before moving to Indiana. She worked at WTHR-TV in Indianapolis, covering such big stories as the Mike Tyson rape trial in 1992. Harrington was a graduate of Fisk University in Nashville and a member of the Black Professional Journalists Association.

Last month, Reporter Ann Mercogliano (http://twitter.com/AnnMercogliano) departed WCBS and sister station WLNY-TV. This month she join joins WPIX-TV (http://pix11.com/) as a freelancer. She will be reporting both mornings and evenings when needed.

Ken Tonning, the President and General Manager at Tampa’s WTSP-TV announced he will retire in July. Before joining the station in 2008, Tonning worked for stations including KUSA-TV in Denver and WXIA-TV in Atlanta where he was the Sales Manager. Beginning his career in 1974, he was credited for altering traditional journalism and pushing the envelope of newscast reporting. http://www.wfla.com/story/21058646/gm-of-st-pete-tv-station-to-retire-in-july

In a strange twist, Orlando’s WKMG-TV hires the son of an Anchor at a competing news station. Justin Warmoth joined WKMG as a News Reporter with the blessing of his father Greg Warmoth who is the Anchor for Orlando’s WFTV-TV. Surely journalism runs in the genes of this family. http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2013/02/wkmg-hires-son-of-wftv-anchor-greg-warmoth.html

The Web Producer at WFOR-TV, Dave Game has passed away. Dave was only 57 and leaves a long legacy in the industry. Game, a veteran journalist, came to WFOR in 1985 where he served as a General Assignment Reporter, Investigative Producer and Reporter. He is accredited with creating one of the first broadcasting websites in South Florida for WFOR. http://miami.cbslocal.com/2013/02/06/longtime-cbs-miami-web-producer-dave-game-dies-at-57/

WTVT-TV Channel 13’s Andy Johnson has left the Fox TV station after over three decades with the company. Johnson joined the station in 1979. A native of Tampa as well, the low key retired Meteorologist has not spoken on his plans hereafter. http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/media/content/wtvt-ch-13-forecaster-andy-johnson-leaves-air-today-after-33-years-marking-low-profile-depar

Journalist Mike Guy (http://twitter.com/MrMikeGuy) has stepped down as Editor-in-Chief of The Fix.com. He still regularly contributes to Playboy Magazine and Wenner Medias Men’s Journal. He will also continue to be the Editor-in-Chief of Hopper.com. Thrillist (http://twitter.com/Thrillist)features off-the-beaten-path activities, restaurants and products found around the world. The website is easily accessed by each city; a total of 21 are featured, including New York, London and Miami. The site managers are looking to add more cities to explore in the near future.

London’s Daily Mail (http://www.dailymail.co.uk) is opening a new Washington, D.C. office and it will be headed by David Martosko (http://www.twitter.com/EditMeDavid). Martosko was the Executive Editor at The Daily Caller. Martosko’s new title will be U.S. Political Editor.

You can view the whole March issue of MEDIAware here: http://www.prnewswire.com/knowledge-center/mediaware/%20

And all of the Regional Updates here: http://www.prnewswire.com/knowledge-center/mediaware/March2013UpdatesByRegion.html

You can also follow all of the latest media moves and news from PR Newswire’s Audience Research Department on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/PRNmedia

What the Pew Social Media Usage Report Reveals to Communicators

Last week the Pew Internet & American Life Project released its report on social media users for 2012.   The report’s findings detail the social media behaviors of different demographic groups, and provide some important guidance for communicators.

Here are some of the key take-aways for PR and marketing pros:

  • Align content (and calls to action) with your target demographics.  The Pew report reveals some strong differences in social media platform preferences between gender and ethnic groups.   If your brand has a narrow focus, such as a product specifically for African-American women, you’ll want to be sure that your brand has included a well-developed Instagram channel and Twitter presence.  Why?  According to Pew, Instagram users skew toward young adults, African-Americans and urban residents.  Twitter users show similar demographic characteristics.    However, if you want to reach women more broadly, you’ll need to throw Pinterest into the mix, to pick up its white female user population, and Facebook, which is used by women of all races.
  • Visuals, visuals, visuals.  Pinterest and Twitter are neck and neck in terms of user numbers, and Twitter has been around a lot longer.   The near-vertical arc of Pinterest’s growth tells me two things.  First, brands need to be on Pinterest.  Second, visuals need to be the cornerstone of communications, not an accessory.    While the popularity image-centric networks like Pinterest and Instagram is undeniable, it’s also important to note that Twitter and Facebook (Instagram’s parent) have made significant improvements on the display of multimedia content within their primary user experiences.
  • Social media is here to stay.   More than any strong differences in behavior among groups, the Pew report paints a picture of the ubiquity of social media.   Whether you live in an urban or rural setting, whether you have a high school diploma or an advanced degree – you’re almost equally likely to be using a social platform.   The usage statistics are all within a few percentage points of each other, and across the board, usage percentages all exceed 65%.   The one significant difference in user group behavior is age-related.  Younger people are significantly more likely to be using social media than their elders.

Here’s a link to the full Pew State of Social Media Users – 2012 report.  It’s succinct and does a great job of summarizing the data, and is well worth a read.

Once you’ve identified key demographics, your next step is to identify influentials among the group.  Here are some ideas for finding and building relationships with the connected insiders who are so important to successful brands today.

sarah avatarAuthor Sarah Skerik is PR Newswire’s vice president of social media, and is the author of the e-book “Unlocking Social Media for PR.”  Follow her on Twitter at @sarahskerik.

Forget Influencers — 4 Steps for Identifying Connected Industry Insiders

We spend a lot of time talking about “influentials” in the context of PR and social media marketing.    Top industry bloggers and Twitter stars are on everyone’s “A” list.  But what about the people in the trenches, who actually get the work done?   To keep things simple, let’s call these folks “insiders.”

Industry insiders are important, because they have powerful influence in their own right. In many cases, they have built their own solid social networks that are important to their own careers and personal reputations.   They also have real credibility with their peers, because they’re not figureheads – they have day jobs and are doing the real work.   And for brands, these are the people who have input on buying decisions.  Simply put, it’s not enough to court your industry’s rock stars.  You have to connect with insiders, too.   So how do you identify the day-to-day professionals who make up the insider crowd?  Here’s the 4-step approach I used to identify insiders for a sister company that operates in the IT space.  They needed to grow their audience in several verticals, and social media was a logical channel for achieving this objective.

  1. Hashtag research:   Researching hashtags is the logical starting point for a project like this. I always start with a visit to search.twitter.com,  plugging in common hashtags, and noting other hashtags people use in the Tweets I surface.  For example, #CloudComputing, as it turns out, is often simply shortened to #Cloud.  If you search one, but not the other, you miss people.
  2. People tweeting hashtags:  Twitter has a neat feature that many overlook – you can easily see who is tweeting under a particular hashtag.  Scrolling through the list of participants in the conversation around a hashtag is a great way to find people who are truly interested in the subject.   To see who is tweeting content with a particular hashtag, search that hashtag on Twitter.com, and then, as you’re viewing the resulting Tweets, click on “People” in the upper left hand corner, under the word “Tweets.”  Doing this displays the Twitter handles of the people who have used the hashtag recently.
  3. Relevant Twitter Lists:  Listorious is a useful tool, enabling users to easily find popular Twitter lists built around specific topics.   Take a look at popular lists within your target segment, and who is on those lists.  They’re popular for a reason, and many times you’ll find some great insiders among the members.
  4. Top Insiders:  One of the most useful tools I’ve come across is Little Bird, a start up that’s currently offering beta access.  Essentially a search engine for experts, Little Bird allows users to research topics and, through algorithmic machinations, identify insiders who are expert on that topic. I used Little Bird to search for people (filtering out brands and news organizations) related to the verticals on which I was focusing.   It works very well, identifying a slew of new people who had eluded me in my hashtag and Twitter list research.

So what do you do with all these people you find?

I’ve done a few things.  First and foremost, I built my own Twitter lists, comprised of carefully selected insiders gleaned from these sources.  The sister company’s social team can (gradually) start following the people on the list.  In the meantime,  they can follow the list itself, re-tweeting and commenting upon content shared by list members, which will help them start building recognition and credibility with this new audience.

Secondly, I’ve been identifying blogs written by people on shiny new lists.  In addition to providing content for curation, insider blogs provide valuable intelligence for brands about real world user issues.   Getting to know a few more thoughtful, well-connected bloggers is also good for any pretty much any brand these days, and will be useful for my project.

It’s worth noting that before embarking on any of this research, I determined that my desired audiences were in fact active on Twitter, based upon the volume of discussion around key topics.  Clearly, Twitter is an important clearinghouse for news and information relating to the IT verticals I was targeting.

Another great tool to inform your influencer identification efforts is your media database.  Using our Agility Influencer Engagement platform, I’m able to find journalists and bloggers who cover niche topics, and get their Twitter handles.   I then take a look at who they follow, and who follows them.  This is fast and accurate way to identify original thinkers in the business, and the people who are interested in industry news and information.

Author Sarah Skerik is PR Newswire’s vice president of social media and author of the free ebook “Unlocking Social Media for PR.”

Free eBook: “The Practitioner’s Guide to Social Influencer Engagement: A collaborative work of industry peers”

eBook_blogThe terms “social networks” and “social media” make it easy to forget that people – more than a billion of them worldwide – are the means by which conversations propagate and ideas spread.  Smart communicators factor the human element into the communications plans they develop and the content they create.

Every group of people, whether you’re talking about an informal cluster or people conversing via hashtags on Twitter, a private group on Facebook or a coffee klatch at a local café, has its own influencers.  Respected and quoted by many, influencers are the members of the community who sway opinions through a combination of personal expertise and social connectedness that put them at the center (and often at the start of) many conversations.  Influencers exist for every imaginable topic.  They might be hobbyists, academics, journalists, professionals, or simply the person next door.  Each brings a unique point of view to a conversation, and developing relationships with them is important for brands building a connected digital presence.

We invited you –the industry experts – to pen a chapter and share your thoughts, ideas and best practices on the topic of social media influence.  The result:  a comprehensive eBook called “The Practitioner’s Guide to Social Influencer Engagement, A collaborative work of industry peers,” which delves into the different kinds of influencers you’ll find, their role in shaping online conversation and how brands and organizations can build valuable relationships with key influencers within their markets and as well as become influential themselves.

Read “The Practitioner’s Guide to Social Influencer Engagement” and thank you to all of our contributing authors!

Learn more about PR Newswire’s other programs at the AGILITY@work website.

Media Moves & News for November

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MEDIAware, PR Newswire’s Audience Research Department newsletter, featuring media news and job changes in the last month, is now available. Here is a sampling of this month’s edition:

Newsweek (http://www.thedailybeast.com/content/newsweek.html)announced it will cease printing with its last issue on Dec. 31st. Newsweek will be an online publication only in 2013. Newsweek estimates that its been losing $40 million annually on the print edition. Layoffs are expected in the transition. The new online product will be called “Newsweek Global”. Some Newsweek articles will continue to be available on The Daily Beast (http://www.thedailybeast.com) free website run by the same company. Newsweek began in 1933 and competed and battled with Time magazine to provide readers with the top weekly news stories in the newsweekly magazine business. The magazine peaked in 1991 with 3.3 million readers and was down to 1.5 million at the midway point this year. The lack of advertising dollars for a national weekly losing readers played a part in the demise as well.

It’s stormy weather for employees of The Weather Channel (http://www.weather.com) lately as approximately seven percent were laid off last month. The Atlanta-based company, which recently celebrated its 30th anniversary, had to lay off employees as part of a restructuring. The restructuring affected about 75-80 people. The last such layoff was in 2008 after NBCUniversal acquired a controlling share of the company. Meteorologists Jeff Morrow and Adam Berg were among those out.

The Seattle Times (http://seattletimes.com) reported on its own employees protest against the company, following the company’s controversial decision to purchase a full-page ad supporting the Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna. More than 100 Seattle Times news staffers – including reporters, photographers, columnists, artists, editors and online news producers – signed a letter protesting the Times Co’s decision to sponsor newspaper ads supporting Republican gubernatorial candidate McKenna and a statewide referendum for legalized gay marriage. The employees cited threats to the paper’s credibility and neutrality as reasons for the protest.

Anderson Live (http://www.andersoncooper.com), Anderson Cooper’s daytime talk show, will not return for a third season. The program will run until Summer of 2013 completing its second season. You can still see Anderson Cooper on his CNN program “Anderson Cooper 360″ (http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/).

After Newsweek announced its move to digital earlier this month, popular Senior Correspondent Peter J. Boyer makes a major move. The former New Yorker and Vanity Fair Staff Writer has been named the new Editor-at-Large of Fox News. The new hire was named by Fox News CEO Roger Ailes in a statement to his staff, describing Boyer as a “talented and insightful journalist.”

Former “CBS This Morning” Co-host Erica Hill has joined NBC’s “Weekend Today” as its new Co-host. Hill will host on Saturdays and Sundays beside Lester Holt. In addition to her new Co-hosting duties she will be a national correspondent for NBC News reporting on “Today” and “NBC Nightly News”.

Comedian Adam Carolla has joined Fox News Channel (http://www.foxnews.com) as a Contributor mainly on “The O’Reilly Factor” program (http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/oreilly/index.html). Carolla is set to appear each Monday on the show to comment on political and social issues. In addition to appearing on “The O’Reilly Factor” he will make appearances on other Fox News Shows. You can also see Carolla on his daily podcast show “The Adam Carolla Show” (http://adamcarolla.com).

As countless publications continue to take major hits due to the economic recession Condé Nast Corporation (http://www.condenast.com) announces several cutbacks. Eight editorial staffers and three business staffers were laid off at Self Magazine as part of Condé Nast’s 2013 budget cuts. According to New York Post, reports state that each title under the major publishing house must cutback by an estimated 5%. Although the cutbacks are said to continue within the coming months, large brands such as Vanity Fair and The New Yorker may escape staff reductions this time around. However, other powerful names were not so lucky, such as Susan Portnoy (Vice President Media Relations for Digital and Corporate Communications), most commonly known for her involvement in New York’s annual Fashion’s Night Out.

LANG (http://www.langnews.com) which include the Los Angeles Daily News, the Torrance Daily Breeze and seven other papers has taken the obvious next step into becoming a regional news operation with an emphasis more on digital and less on geographical. Carolina Garcia will take over as Managing Editor of digital news for all LANG papers.

The Chicago Sun-Times (http://www.suntimes.com) has announced the hiring of Actress and Author Jenny McCarthy as Columnist. Ask Jenny will appear in the newspaper’s Splash section, and her blog will run Monday through Friday at splash.suntimes.com. The column will focus on and answer questions about love, sex, parenting, friendship, fitness and duties of a single mother.

Wired (http://www.wired.com) is bringing advertisers and the blogging community together by running ad-sponsored blogs. http://www.adweek.com/news/press/wired-bringing-advertisers-and-its-blogs-closer-together-136211

The Los Angeles Times (http://www.latimes.com) circulation figures are showing an increase due to paid digital subscriptions: http://www.laobserved.com/biz/2012/10/digital_helps_lat_ga.php

Meteorologists Dick Albert of WCVB-TV (http://www.wcvb.com) in Needham, MA and Steve Cascione of WLNE-TV (http://www.abc6.com) in Providence, RI are teaming up to create a weather-focused online forum called SkyWatchers (http://skywatchers.me) which is set to launch by the end of this year. SkyWatchers will be a platform for weather lovers to connect with and share information about all things weather. They are tweeting: https://twitter.com/skywchrs

The Press of Atlantic City (http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com) powered on through Hurricane Sandy and printed 24-page editions on Tuesday Oct. 30 &  Wednesday Oct.31st.

You can view the whole October issue of MEDIAware here: http://www.prnewswire.com/knowledge-center/mediaware/

And all of the Regional Updates here: http://www.prnewswire.com/knowledge-center/mediaware/November2012AgilityUpdatesByRegion.html

You can also follow all of the latest media moves and news from PR Newswire’s Audience Research Department on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/PRNmedia

Call For EARNIES 2012 Entries: Celebrating Earned Media

The Earnies awards recognize individuals and organizations for outstanding efforts in the area of earned media executed across social media. For our second year of the Earnies, we’ve added more categories to give you even more opportunities to show off your successful campaigns, including awards for best visual campaigns using Pinterest or Instagram,  best global communications campaign and best infographic.    Here’s a full list of the Earnies award categories.

To enter the Earnies, simply review the categories, and then click the pink “Submit an Entry Now” button under the category that best fits your campaign.

The deadline is November 30, 2012, so pick your favorite campaign and enter today!