I’ve subscribed to the Medill School of Journalism alumni list-serv for about six years. It’s been a terrific resource as we grads seek sources for stories, hunt for full-time and freelance work opportunities, debate various journalism/marketing/PR issues and on and on… For any given alum, myself included, most of the posts are of minimal interest: […]
It’s my 40th birthday. More than any other birthday, I’ve viewed this one with a strange mania, for at least a year now. A variation on the mid-life crisis, though without the big boat, sports car and “what happens-here-stays here” trip to Vegas. It’s all really silly, of course, and is a product largely of […]
My wife Bridgett’s aunt, Carol, had a book launch party last night. Carol is a splendid writing coach, based in Chicago but accessible online, and couldn’t have crafted a better plot if she’d tried. By any measure, the event at Women & Children First bookstore, on Chicago’s North side, was a huge success. Nearly 100 […]
Doing the right thing when nobody’s looking is so much better than being shamed into doing it when the world is watching. That’s the lesson I take away from the Citizens Bank saga that I first chronicled on this blog a month ago. In my follow-up Citizens Bank post, I detail how Geoff Williams wrote […]
If you read only one 7,300-word story this month, make it this one: a superbly crafted piece that Gene Weingarten (pictured) wrote for the Washington Post in April 2007. The story’s centerpiece was a 43-minute solo performance by Joshua Bell, the world’s preeminent violinist who gamely agreed to play in a most unorthodox setting. In […]
Working as a journalist for about 20 years, I learned that the best way to avoid getting assigned a lame story idea was to have a long list of cool stories I was already developing. “Hey, Mike, I really wish I could take on that macrame conference story assignment,” I might say, “but I’m already […]
A regular staple of transportation media coverage is the Most Dangerous Intersection story. The subject is ripe for the reporter’s picking, with official statistics providing a tally on the number of collisions, injuries and fatalities at a given spot. But today I offer another, more subjective category: Least Peaceful Intersection. In my neighborhood, a top […]
Four reasons why publicists should shoot their own videos: 1. It provides another avenue for communicating directly with your target audience. Uploading a clip onto a site like YouTube creates a permanent home for you to convey your message, long after the story pitch’s original timeframe. 2. It is a helpful tool in making your […]
Fastest-growing” this, “Biggest-dropping” that Always be wary Of any hyphenated stat Of all the numeracy tips that I’ve shared with reporters and publicists, in training sessions and columns, this one about “fastest-growing” claims is certainly in the Top 5. In the PR world, abusing and misusing the phrase leaves the user open to attack as […]