rosen on wikileaks – stateless news organization

Worth a read on wikileaks Wikileaks, the World’s First Stateless News Organization

Ask yourself: Why didn’t Wikileaks just publish the Afghanistan war logs and let journalists ‘round the world have at them? Why hand them over to The New York Times, the Guardian and Der Spiegel first? Because as Julien Assange, founder of Wikileaks, explained last October, if a big story is available to everyone equally, journalists will pass on it.

“It’s counterintuitive,” he said then. “You’d think the bigger and more important the document is, the more likely it will be reported on but that’s absolutely not true. It’s about supply and demand. Zero supply equals high demand, it has value. As soon as we release the material, the supply goes to infinity, so the perceived value goes to zero.”

pay to play journalism – all of them?

Like the National Enquirer (who oddly enough just filed for bankruptcy), now everyone is willing to pay for stories. OK, technically it sounds like they pay the interviewee for use of images and video an exorbitant amount to avoid (theoretically) crossing that journalistic line. From the story on the Washington Post on Checkbook Journalism.

“thanks to heightened competition for the next big “get,” journalism’s Thou-Shalt-Not-Pay commandment has lately been taking a beating. News and gossip sites that paid for information have broken some of the biggest and most sensational recent stories. TV news divisions have joined in, spurring an arms race to buy big stories.”

and

CNN spokeswoman Edie Emery insisted, however, “CNN does not pay for interviews or sources. Yes, CNN did pay a licensing fee for exclusive rights to Schuringa’s cellphone image. Payment for the exclusive license of the image was never a condition of the guest interview.” In fact, CNN did interview Schuringa.

and

An ABC News spokesman, Jeffrey Schneider, also said the fees were not tied to any promises of an interview. “We compensate a rights-holder for video or pictures that they own in the same way that The Washington Post would pay a photographer for his pictures,” Schneider said.

So who can you trust? IMHO whether paid or based on some agenda, you should always be skeptical of the media regardless of the SPJ code of ethics.

And in disclosure, the WP has agreed to pay me $100,000 to run this story on my blog. OK, actually they are paying me for RIGHTS to use my cc licensed photo top right at some future date. Yup, the photo of broken stuff.

It’s true.

OK, it’s all true except that last part. But if you know someone at the WP, will you send them my address so they can mail a check?

battleship potemkin

more on the battleship potemkin

Tools and Tech for PR Agencies

Listening to Sandra Fathi‘s presentation at T3PR. Slides below with lots of helpful resources.

Upcoming Speaking

On the road again. A few upcoming speaking gigs on my calendar

Technology Section Conference: T3PR - Theory, Tactics & Technology for High-Tech Public Relations Conference
June 11, 2010, 10:45–11:30 a.m. New York, New York
“Personal Brands: The Opportunities and Threats”

CPE By the Sea Conference
June 16, Galveston, TX
“Social Media and Personal Branding”

PRSA Sunshine District Conferene
June 18, Jupiter, FL
“What it Takes to Become Internet Famous”