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Trust in the Age of Diversity and Spin --- Michael Hedges August 27, 2007
Media organizations are shocked – shocked – when survey after survey reveals how little public trust exists in their brands…and how far that trust falls each year. Blame rests completely at the doors to the big media houses, not necessarily for their blunders – though these are not helpful – but rather for their failure to notice the paradigm shift in their power position. They’ve lost it. The people have it. |
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Don’t blame the independent producers --- Michael Hedges July 23, 2007
The agonized whinging from BBC critics, honorably not other broadcasters, bemoan the lost days when broadcasters produced everything they aired. That system ended sometime in the last century. That day came when one general director after another asked that very important – and so very ‘80’s – question: What business are we in? |
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Engaging the Future: The BBC – Global Voice to the World --- Michael Hedges April 4, 2007
The world finds its bearings each day from broadcast news. Through radio and television sounds and images, facts and reality are sorted and chosen by billions. Though times are changing broadcast news will continue to inform and educate like no other medium for generations to come. News brands have expanded to meet increasing demand; CNN has global television reach, Al Jazeera is a new force and the BBC lofts above them all. |
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BBC World and CNN Need To Get Back To Basics – It’s The Coverage Of Live Events, Stupid! --- Philip Stone August 14, 2006
For all the magnificent coverage that BBC World and CNN have provided from the Middle East in the past month both networks are increasingly guilty of forgetting their roots – that it is live event coverage of news conferences, speeches, and crucial UN votes that put them originally on the map – rather than packaged reports -- and their ever stricter adherence to set program schedules are diminishing that coverage. Look no further than the terrible live coverage provided of the UN ceasefire resolution vote. |
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Not What He Said, But Rather How You Found Out --- Philip Stone February 15, 2005
Eason Jordan, CNN’s longtime senior global news executive, has resigned because of comments he made at the World Economic Forum (WEF) that US troops targeted journalists in Iraq, something he retracted almost immediately. But it wasn’t the US media that demanded his scalp for maligning the US military – in fact the US media didn’t even report the story until it was almost over. So how did the pressure become so great that CNN decided to cut its losses and let him walk the plank? Because the bloggers had Jordan by the short hairs and they were not letting go. |
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Creators Avoid Pain, Form New Economy --- Michael Hedges June 7, 2021 Follow on Twitter
Global disruption over the last year and a half has renewed interest in economies, not to be confused with economics. Keen observers, between breaks for Zoom conferences, are conjoining random consumer behaviors with widely available technologies through the fractured prism of value and aspiration. Cryptocurrency meets boredom, insecurity and hubris. The term creator economy has been invented to capture the imaginations of those without |
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Sharing Means Caring… And Voting --- Michael Hedges June 12, 2017 Follow on Twitter
Elections are media events and have been for decades. Voters are, in democracies, the ultimate arbiter. Each one processes election information uniquely; agreeing, disagreeing, dismissing, engaging or any possible combination. Campaign strategies focus on motivating as well as discouraging and sometimes confusing. Mass media tools are important, new media tools vital. |
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Media Mergers And Virtual Disruption --- Michael Hedges January 23, 2019 Follow on Twitter
Big mergers and acquisitions - media and otherwise - almost always result in a period of adjustment. This can last years as executives and shareholders begin executing new operating and financial plans. Those taking on debt tend to shed the odd bits. Those with newly found piles of cash tend to circle the wagons. Everything changes, especially the names. |
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The Agony Of Neutrality, An Objective Lesson --- Michael Hedges October 16, 2017 Follow on Twitter
Public broadcasting executives fall into two distinct groups. Many are lifers, sealers of the mission, steeped in the culture, occasionally blinded by it. Others are the change agents, coming in from outside the organization with new ideas or, at least, less baggage. More often than not, politicians have a large voice in selections, vacillating between staying the course or changing it. With the nature of media as it is in the 21st century, change is the first choice. |
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Change Is In The Air Or Is It In The Water --- Michael Hedges May 30, 2022 Follow on Twitter
Upheaval is an established condition for the media sphere. Publishers were in furore for decades after the appearance of radio and television and particularly incensed by public broadcasting thereafter. Everybody has been aghast at the various phases of digital media. The public, however, seems to takes all the changes in stride. There's a lesson here. They like what they know and know what they like. |
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Change Is In The Air Or Is It In The Water --- Michael Hedges May 30, 2022 Follow on Twitter
Upheaval is an established condition for the media sphere. Publishers were in furore for decades after the appearance of radio and television and particularly incensed by public broadcasting thereafter. Everybody has been aghast at the various phases of digital media. The public, however, seems to takes all the changes in stride. There's a lesson here. They like what they know and know what they like. |
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News, Culture, Equality And Wisdom --- Michael Hedges January 15, 2018 Follow on Twitter
Jobs are important. Life is difficult without them. People prepare diligently and carefully for jobs, mostly, though some just fall into them. All jobs confer status, some more than others. Media jobs, and others in the public eye, attract certain attention. Sometimes it’s the profile or proximity to bright lights. But media jobs are just that, jobs; hard to get, hard to keep. |
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How Sharper Than The Bosses Axe It Is --- Michael Hedges June 12, 2014 Follow on Twitter
Stability was once the hallmark of public broadcasting. Day after day, year after year, little changed and very solid brands were formed. New management practice has arrived, not simply cutting budgets and staff but shuffling the organizational plan. Tension, so goes the theory, is superior to complacency. Or maybe horizontal motion is confused with progress. |
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Blame "The Radio People," Says TV Guy --- Michael Hedges February 25, 2013 Follow on Twitter
Management theory holds that senior executives enunciate mission and vision to inspire those in lower ranks. If all goes well, the job gets done and the product or service is successfully delivered to the delighted customer. As organizations grow large, particularly in the public sector, top management can devolve into institutional self-preservation above all else and it can be blinding. |
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Beginning Of An Era: Nighttime Wimbledon TV --- Philip M. Stone July 1, 2009 Follow on Twitter
It was nail-biting tennis full of suspense but Monday’s Wimbledon singles match between the British idol Andy Murray and the unknown Swiss Stanislaw Wawrinka (Mr. Federer is the known Swiss) had one ingredient never before experienced – it was played under the lights of the new Center Court sliding roof and a great tennis match became a huge nighttime TV success. But Wimbledon being Wimbledon, where change is very slow to progress, the organizers said this was the exception, not the rule, but you just know TV executives want to persuade them differently. |
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Journalism Advocates Can Shine A Light On Injustice --- Michael Hedges March 22, 2021 - Follow on Twitter
Professional organizations offer valuable cohesion for those who toil in the media sphere. This goes beyond the usual newsletters and awards ceremonies. Advocacy is no longer reserved for unions. These groups identify with specific interests and no longer shy away from difficult or controversial positions. After all, the coronavirus pandemic and resulting economic malaise threatens each. And, too, don't forget the dictators. |
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Reporters Never Forget And Always Get The Last Word --- Michael Hedges March 7, 2022 - Follow on Twitter
Reliable, important news agencies and outlets began removing themselves last week from the Russian Federation. By the weekend, the sprinkle had become a deluge. The exits were explained by almost all as necessary to avoid the siege of laws threatening the flow of information. Through the history of journalism attempts to thwart the collection and dissemination of needed information have, eventually, failed. This is no different. |
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