– The free lunch is over

News publishers are sick of picking up the tab for readers and financing newsrooms to churn out stories offered for free on the web. They’ve persisted till now, deceived by brown cardigan dogma about advertising returns, which have so far failed to eventuate. Charging for content is the only choice. But it’s been tried before and people didn’t like it and clicked on other news outlets still hoping for the great online advertising windfall. Read more…

- When competitors are in the news chances are you should be, too

It’s just not right. Your competitors are in the news, talking up their chances and spreading the gospel, but you’re not. You go about your business unnoticed. Trouble is, not being noticed is as good as being invisible. So how do you go about joining the conversation? Read more…

- Oil on the wheels of business, or a load of bollocks?

One journalist asks: What does the age-old industry practice of “doing lunch” really serve?

By Anonymous for Media News, Mediaconnet.com.au The tradition of an expensive PR-bought lunch for a journalist is as old as the media industry itself, but when did it become the only way to build a relationship with someone? It’s a common scenario. The dining environment is stunning, a waiter brings out the perfectly cooked lamb shank and a robust shiraz to wash it down, but there is a bitter taste in the back of your mouth.   Read more…

- Don’t be scared, they’re not trying to make you look bad

It’s little wonder people are spooked by active participation in news media. The whole process is the antithesis of button-downed message orchestration and corporate signoff and safety nets.

Control is forsaken and submission and anxiety rule. Careful answers to journalistic questions are scurried back to the factory and smashed to bits, with just the chunkiest shards dispassionately hammered into spaces between advertising.

Read more…

- Getting your story heard: Find a new angle. Then own it

Familiarity breeds contempt. Just ask Hugh Hefner’s old girlfriends.

However, not all relationships are as fraught and I think Austrian-British philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein offered a better assessment when he said something like, familiarity may not breed contempt, but it certainly takes the edge off admiration. Read more…

– Honesty is always the best policy

When something goes wrong the natural commercial instinct to keep it quiet kicks in. No point in besmirching a carefully managed reputation.

Often, however, businesses don’t have the luxury of selective silence.

It’s hard dodging tough questions, particularly when a seasoned hack acting on a tip-off is on the other end of the phone. Read more…