Meet Me in St. Louis!

No, I won't be there. But thousands of "media reform advocates" are in St. Louis this weekend trying to fix everything that is wrong with the media. My guess is that the job might take a little longer than two days to complete.

Here's the complete story, from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Barney, the President's dog, pondering pressing national security issues.  

At least Barney is safe...thank God!

In the midst of the chaos yesterday at the White House, the folks evacuating the building forgot to tell the press corps. Apparently a public address system was placed in the press work area after the 9/11 attacks, but no one bothered to get on the horn yesterday.

According to Editor and Publisher, several reporters were ordered to evacuate personally by Secret Service personnel, but many reporters kept working and even enjoyed their lunch while the "crisis" ensued.

It should be noted that Barney, the President's dog ,was briefed on the situation immediately.

Mass Media Meltdown?

According to his column in the New York Post yesterday, John Podhoretz says that the American media is in the midst of an industry-wide "meltdown." He cites box office numbers that have been down for the past nine weeks, a continued drop in newspaper circulation, the loss of prime time viewership for television networks and the fact that talk radio audiences have continuously plummeted since the 2004 elections.

There is no doubt that the mass media in this country is in the midst of a huge identity crisis and has failed to keep up with technology to compete with its digital counterparts like satellite radio, blogs, pod casts and more.

Many mainstream news outlets are just now putting time, energy and money into a decent online presence.

With that said, I hesitate to state that the "sky is falling." After all, many said that radio would die after the TV become common place in homes and those same "experts" said that the VCR and DVD player would kill movie theaters. There will always be a marketplace for traditional forms of entertainment and information. Although, it is not clear whether or not the network newscast will survive for much longer.

A flashback to my days as a reporter...

Just to keep you up to date - Mike Fahey defeated Dave Friend in today's election for Omaha Mayor. With 278 of 281 precincts reporting, Fahey defeated Friend 60% to 39%.

There were 105 write-in votes:

36 for Mickey Mouse
23 for Donald Duck
17 for a "Desperate Housewife"
16 for Congressman Tom Osbourne
9 for George Washington
3 for Cheech & Chong
and 1 for Eric Fought

Thanks Mom.

Tennessee Governor Looks Into PR Contract

According to PR Fuel, Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen, is not very happy. Apparently, a $400K state PR contract may have been given to a friend of State Tourism Commissioner, Whitaker.

Bredesen has asked for a complete review of the contract and has involved the state's attorney general in the matter.

Knoxville public relations executive Cathy Ackermann received the contract in question. Ackermann worked on Bredesen's advisory committee before he took office. Whitaker, meanwhile, is one of Bredesen's few Republican appointees.

Fox News "Wishes You Well"

It seems that they do this a lot, according to NPR's David Folkenflik in his latest Media Circus offering.

If he looks like an idiot... 

Election Day

It's election day in Omaha. I think two or three people might actually go to the polls before they close tonight at 8 p.m. No, the turnout is expected to be slightly higher than that I guess, but not by much.

Among the races on the ballot in the city of Omaha is the race for mayor. Incumbent mayor Mike Fahey is being challenged by former police officer Dave Friend. While Mr. Friend has a great last name for politics or a plumbing business - "You have a Friend with a plunger...", that's about all he has. In the recent primary, Fahey won by a margin of more than 20%.

I watched some coverage of the last full day of campaigning last night on local TV. All three stations that I watched basically had the same footage: Fahey in a business suit calmly reading a book to school children and Friend in a t-shirt, shorts and a ball cap standing on a street corner with a yard sign. One man looked like a mayor - the other looked like he was about to mow his lawn.

During one of the commercial breaks, a spot for Mr. Friend appeared. While he is wearing a business suit - he might as well be wearing his more casual attire. The spot is obviously locally produced on a very tight budget because it looks awful. Even the sound is muddy and difficult to hear at times. You end up feeling sorry for the guy.

It's a bad cliche - but what the heck - I'll say it again - image is everything. If you want to be the mayor of a large metropolitan city like Omaha, you have to look like the mayor of that city. If you want to mow lawns instead, grab the tennies and your screen printed t-shirt. In order to be taken seriously, one must take the task at hand seriously.

This applies not only to politicians and elected officials, it applies to everyone who is ever in the public eye - non-profit Executive Directors, CEOs, ministers, athletes, etc. You never know when a TV camera might show up in your office or who you might meet at the supermarket.