Numerator Management is a growth oriented marketing and management education, training and consulting firm. We can be a key resource for your company, your clients or your executive students.
The numerator concept of business practice and academic research employs a profitable and feasible idea. Numerator marketing and management states that managers can increase the value of their business most profitably by raising revenue, lifetime customer valuation, share value, product brand and corporate brand/reputation. Companies can always increase value by reducing the denominator (costs and staff cuts) but the business of business is sales, marketing and management toward growth.
Concept: Corporate Value = Numerator Marketing Management / Denominator Marketing Management
Numerator (growth of sales, lifetime customer value, stock value, employee value, brand value, reputation)
Denominator (cutting staff, managers, operating costs)
We would like to focus on having you improve your business by managing the numerator.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Talk to the University of Los Andes - Santiago April 8 2010
Profesores, estudiantes, y otros inviados: Gracias por la invitacion a la Universidad de los Andes.
In the words of Pablo Neruda “desde el sonoro pedernal andino” hasta “el mar: fuego y frio: movimiento:” Chile is a magnificent country. It is almost impossible to imagine a country that has more dramatic vistas than you all enjoy here. I am looking forward to my own sightseeing. Chile has had a wonderful impact on my family. Your medical school and neuroscience scholars sponsored a conference last November in Santiago. My elder son who had just received his doctorate in neuroscience attended with a group of colleagues from the University of California San Francisco. He was so attracted to Chile that he spent three weeks hiking and touring. He hiked in the Torres del Paine which I understand is a challenge. He alerted me to the beauty and sophistication of Santiago and Chile.
I bring the greetings of our new President Morty Shapiro who has taken on the mantle of Northwestern’s leadership in the past 10 months. He is often called a student’s president. His dedication is to the teaching, research and service goals that are relevant to serving the objectives of our students.
With 30,000 students applying for only 2000 freshman places each year we have a saying. The old rule is that the faculty were not smart enough to be admitted to the graduate school. The graduate students were not smart enough to be admitted to the undergraduate school. Logically, the smartest people on campus are the 18 year old new students each year at Northwestern. Is that true here?
I want to summarize and talk about three ideas in the time available and with the important help of my translator.
By the way, my wife is fluent in Spanish but was unable to be here this trip.
1. First, The Wisconsin Idea of institutional and individual progressivism from one hundred years ago has a timely message for universities today.
2. Second, we can discuss the serious threats to all institutions such as government, business, religion, not-for-profits, NGOs and universities.
3. Third, I want to describe a new century post-theoretical role for the academic profession and professional practice of communications.
I am excited to be here to share these ideas with you. I will to ask for your feedback from a modern Chilean and world point of view.
In the words of Pablo Neruda “desde el sonoro pedernal andino” hasta “el mar: fuego y frio: movimiento:” Chile is a magnificent country. It is almost impossible to imagine a country that has more dramatic vistas than you all enjoy here. I am looking forward to my own sightseeing. Chile has had a wonderful impact on my family. Your medical school and neuroscience scholars sponsored a conference last November in Santiago. My elder son who had just received his doctorate in neuroscience attended with a group of colleagues from the University of California San Francisco. He was so attracted to Chile that he spent three weeks hiking and touring. He hiked in the Torres del Paine which I understand is a challenge. He alerted me to the beauty and sophistication of Santiago and Chile.
I bring the greetings of our new President Morty Shapiro who has taken on the mantle of Northwestern’s leadership in the past 10 months. He is often called a student’s president. His dedication is to the teaching, research and service goals that are relevant to serving the objectives of our students.
With 30,000 students applying for only 2000 freshman places each year we have a saying. The old rule is that the faculty were not smart enough to be admitted to the graduate school. The graduate students were not smart enough to be admitted to the undergraduate school. Logically, the smartest people on campus are the 18 year old new students each year at Northwestern. Is that true here?
I want to summarize and talk about three ideas in the time available and with the important help of my translator.
By the way, my wife is fluent in Spanish but was unable to be here this trip.
1. First, The Wisconsin Idea of institutional and individual progressivism from one hundred years ago has a timely message for universities today.
2. Second, we can discuss the serious threats to all institutions such as government, business, religion, not-for-profits, NGOs and universities.
3. Third, I want to describe a new century post-theoretical role for the academic profession and professional practice of communications.
I am excited to be here to share these ideas with you. I will to ask for your feedback from a modern Chilean and world point of view.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Post Budget Speech Analysis "...pretty soon it adds up to real money"
Governor Quinn delivered this speech to the General Assembly, Senate and public at the 5th grade reading level Last year his first address after stepping into the role of governor was at 7th grade level. He seems to be more aware than ever that the public needs to have the message delivered very, very clearly since they increasingly do not trust the words and actions of politicians.
Naturally, he used several old ploys from the old guard playbook: He called the tax increase the state was not going to level a "1 percent surcharge" (it is not a 1% increase but an increase from 3 to 4 percent which makes it an increase of 33% over last year. First, it is not a surcharge, it is a tax. Just as the national Congress and other states have tried to called taxes "revenue enhancements", "investments" (in the country), "user fees" (where nearly everyone is a user), "privatization" (the selling of our parking meters, bridges, toll ways). One of my favorites is from my own university where the slight lowering of tuition increases that had been around 6% for over a decade was called a "reduced increase". Surcharge also implies a temporary action. Is there a sunset law attachment?
A year ago in the midst of a major economic crisis the governor was being "optimistic". He did not act as if the state was in crisis. This year is says he is "realistic". He is certainly slow to change. If the leadership of the state had acted over the past decade to plan and manage more carefully; we might not be facing a 11-13 billion dollar debt. At this point it is unlikely that we can simply grow our way out of the debt with an healthy economy (which we don't have).
It is painfully humorous to note that last November a member of the State's leadership asked the state's legislative research team what zero-based budgeting might be. I guess the legislators don't have access to Wikipedia. From my work as a budget staffer for the Department of Justice in Wisconsin and with a former governor, I have been a fan of ZBB. Former President Jimmy Carter (then an outsider) pitched his outside status as a governor of Georgia who had succesfully implemented ZBB to help his state. If you know what you are doing in state leadership you know that trying a ZBB on all the agencies at one time can be an almost impossible task. It has worked well in stages. However, we may not have the luxury of waiting.
Mr. Bradley proposes the "butcher cleaver model" of budgeting. He asks for a 10% cut across the board. This is bad public policy. Some departments might be eliminated, some might need more revenue, some might be merged to save overhead (universities like Northwestern need to do this - next blog topic). With ZBB you do not assume that any existing program should continue. For years tricky budgeters (including me) have put in small requests that grow as "continuing items" rather than "new items". This is how budgets and programs that are "nice to have" grow and attract sponsors and friends.
I don't think we can use the ideas of Bradley or Quinn to manage the 55.1 billion dollar budget even if they pretend that they can only control 27.4 percent of it. By the way, gaming expansion is not the answer either. Pretty soon, as U.S. Senator Ev Dirksen said (there is some debate) " "A billion here, A billion there, pretty soon it adds up to real money". (QuotationsPage.com)
Naturally, he used several old ploys from the old guard playbook: He called the tax increase the state was not going to level a "1 percent surcharge" (it is not a 1% increase but an increase from 3 to 4 percent which makes it an increase of 33% over last year. First, it is not a surcharge, it is a tax. Just as the national Congress and other states have tried to called taxes "revenue enhancements", "investments" (in the country), "user fees" (where nearly everyone is a user), "privatization" (the selling of our parking meters, bridges, toll ways). One of my favorites is from my own university where the slight lowering of tuition increases that had been around 6% for over a decade was called a "reduced increase". Surcharge also implies a temporary action. Is there a sunset law attachment?
A year ago in the midst of a major economic crisis the governor was being "optimistic". He did not act as if the state was in crisis. This year is says he is "realistic". He is certainly slow to change. If the leadership of the state had acted over the past decade to plan and manage more carefully; we might not be facing a 11-13 billion dollar debt. At this point it is unlikely that we can simply grow our way out of the debt with an healthy economy (which we don't have).
It is painfully humorous to note that last November a member of the State's leadership asked the state's legislative research team what zero-based budgeting might be. I guess the legislators don't have access to Wikipedia. From my work as a budget staffer for the Department of Justice in Wisconsin and with a former governor, I have been a fan of ZBB. Former President Jimmy Carter (then an outsider) pitched his outside status as a governor of Georgia who had succesfully implemented ZBB to help his state. If you know what you are doing in state leadership you know that trying a ZBB on all the agencies at one time can be an almost impossible task. It has worked well in stages. However, we may not have the luxury of waiting.
Mr. Bradley proposes the "butcher cleaver model" of budgeting. He asks for a 10% cut across the board. This is bad public policy. Some departments might be eliminated, some might need more revenue, some might be merged to save overhead (universities like Northwestern need to do this - next blog topic). With ZBB you do not assume that any existing program should continue. For years tricky budgeters (including me) have put in small requests that grow as "continuing items" rather than "new items". This is how budgets and programs that are "nice to have" grow and attract sponsors and friends.
I don't think we can use the ideas of Bradley or Quinn to manage the 55.1 billion dollar budget even if they pretend that they can only control 27.4 percent of it. By the way, gaming expansion is not the answer either. Pretty soon, as U.S. Senator Ev Dirksen said (there is some debate) " "A billion here, A billion there, pretty soon it adds up to real money". (QuotationsPage.com)
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Fearless sifting and winnowing in universities
The concept of academic independence and entrepreneurship with respect to research, course content and service is a long established value in Research 1 and other universities. One exception may be if the faculty member is a captive of a federal grant with more specific promises (made by the professor and agreed with by the funding agency) a professor is able to conduct research in any relevant field he or she wishes. Of course if the professor publishes in fields and journals wildly and even logically unrelated to the disciplines of the school and or department, a faculty may find reasons to not renew the person in their third year of two three year contracts toward lifetime appointment in the 7th year. However, tenured faculty often later find areas of interest that are not constrained by the less mature definitions of a field of study or inquiry.
Here is a historical quote that all university professors and administrators should commit to memory. The quote is from the end of the 19th century posted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison (posted to the right of the entrance to Bascom Hall).
Here is a historical quote that all university professors and administrators should commit to memory. The quote is from the end of the 19th century posted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison (posted to the right of the entrance to Bascom Hall).
"How appropriate today, in rekindling the torch of freedom set ablaze by the sturdy pioneers of 1894, to say with them":
WHATEVER MAY BE THE LIMITATIONS WHICH TRAMMEL INQUIRY ELSEWHERE, WE BELIEVE THAT THE GREAT STATE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN SHOULD EVER ENCOURAGE THAT CONTINUAL AND FEARLESS SIFTING AND WINNOWING BY WHICH ALONE THE TRUTH CAN BE FOUND.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
State of the Union 2010
For ABC-TV Chicago Channel 7 a.m. news:
1. Style of the State of the Union was illustrated by the President's wildly praised speaking skills. One exception was a thumping of his hands on the podium picked up by the mic. However, if you conduct a readability analysis of the grade level of the speech you can see why the President is working harder to get his message across. I used Microsoft's Word Flesch-Kincaid) scoring (http://bit.ly/cJVpPV). The President and his team of David Axelrod- senior advisor, Jon Favreau - speech writer and Mona Sutphen -policy advisor crafted a speech scoring at the 6th to 7th grade level. His speech in 2009 was at the 9th grade level. For a point of history, John Kennedy's 1962 State of the Union was at the 12th grade level. The scoring is meant to provide some guidance to edit your talk or paper to be more understandable by the audience. A speech for a national audience on TV should not use so many long sentences and words that it is difficult to follow.
He also changed his strategy to refer to existing bills on a range of topics that were passed by the House. He charged the Senate to act on their own or the House bills. His strategy on jobs and several specific bills supporting jobs (tax breaks for small business) showed his growth as a leader. If he gets only a few of the more than a dozen recommendations; he will be miles ahead of 2009 stalled efforts. As a relatively inexperienced lobbyist himself, he failed to work with the Congress to secure healthcare repairs. He needs to learn that only a tiny fraction of bills pass (8%) even when he commands them for his desk. His key points on education again threatened traditional and over-priced university degrees, power and this mix-master of issues tossed in at the end seem presidential, but expensive.
The Republican effort was weak (again). They smartly added the most enthusiastic diverse audience I have ever seen to applaud stiff and too new to office Governor McDonnel after each cliche. The Governor was stiff and too new to office to carry the mantle of the GOP. All he could do under the thumb of Republican strategists was to mention the President's agenda and a tired Republican retort.
We don't need all of the President's legislative wish list. The President needs to secure some his wish list. What we need are jobs, lower taxes on smaller businesses and a modified health care system.
1. Style of the State of the Union was illustrated by the President's wildly praised speaking skills. One exception was a thumping of his hands on the podium picked up by the mic. However, if you conduct a readability analysis of the grade level of the speech you can see why the President is working harder to get his message across. I used Microsoft's Word Flesch-Kincaid) scoring (http://bit.ly/cJVpPV). The President and his team of David Axelrod- senior advisor, Jon Favreau - speech writer and Mona Sutphen -policy advisor crafted a speech scoring at the 6th to 7th grade level. His speech in 2009 was at the 9th grade level. For a point of history, John Kennedy's 1962 State of the Union was at the 12th grade level. The scoring is meant to provide some guidance to edit your talk or paper to be more understandable by the audience. A speech for a national audience on TV should not use so many long sentences and words that it is difficult to follow.
He also changed his strategy to refer to existing bills on a range of topics that were passed by the House. He charged the Senate to act on their own or the House bills. His strategy on jobs and several specific bills supporting jobs (tax breaks for small business) showed his growth as a leader. If he gets only a few of the more than a dozen recommendations; he will be miles ahead of 2009 stalled efforts. As a relatively inexperienced lobbyist himself, he failed to work with the Congress to secure healthcare repairs. He needs to learn that only a tiny fraction of bills pass (8%) even when he commands them for his desk. His key points on education again threatened traditional and over-priced university degrees, power and this mix-master of issues tossed in at the end seem presidential, but expensive.
The Republican effort was weak (again). They smartly added the most enthusiastic diverse audience I have ever seen to applaud stiff and too new to office Governor McDonnel after each cliche. The Governor was stiff and too new to office to carry the mantle of the GOP. All he could do under the thumb of Republican strategists was to mention the President's agenda and a tired Republican retort.
We don't need all of the President's legislative wish list. The President needs to secure some his wish list. What we need are jobs, lower taxes on smaller businesses and a modified health care system.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Floating "PRournalism" Part 2 Credibility
The 2nd “C” – Credibility
How can the values of the Medill School of Journalism, the values of professional journalism and the new gyrations of the professional employment market be aligned for the 21st century beginning in 2010?
The values of journalism as stated by Medill are most visibly found in 2009 at http://ugadm.northwestern.edu/freshman/academics/medill.htm
In its teaching, Medill has always emphasized three fundamentals to media reporting: accuracy, fairness, and balance. "There is a right way, an ethical way, to present the news," says Boye. "More than anything else we want Medill graduates to have a strong appreciation that this is what good journalism is all about."
From the Poynter Institute’s tolerant publishing of G. Stuart Adam’s Notes Towards a Definition of Journalism Understanding an old craft
as an art form: “Whatever else this journalism may be … it is the product of reporting — the gathering and presentation of slices and bits of human experience and thought selected from what N. K. Llewellyn once called the “aperceptive mass of behavior.” So journalism involves, and is defined to some extent by, reporting. But it also involves criticism, or editorializing, or the conferral of judgments on the shape of things. Each of the items in the foregoing inventory — some more consciously than others — involved a judgment or an assessment of the significance or value or worth of the actions of its subjects.” http://www.poynter.org/media/product/20030123_141216_24094.pdf
After meandering about in his essay for 27 pages Adam’s finally writes: “In other words, I am trying to define journalism in terms of what it is rather than by the medium through which it is circulated. Now I am prepared to commit myself.”
He writes: “There are minimally five elements or principles of design in any piece
of journalism that, although journalism may share some of these with
other forms of expression and although the elements may be unequally
represented in individual pieces, together mark and define it. In my
view, journalism comprises distinctive elements or principles (1) of
news, (2) of reporting or evidence-gathering, (3) of language, (4) of narration, and (5) of meaning.” (p. 23).
The readers of the report are fully familiar with Adam’s often used descriptors of journalism through other Medill School 2020 planning terms. Our language is similar but richer choice of words such as storytelling, audience, engaging, news, research, writing, technology, reporting, relevant, differentiated and more..
Dean Lavine stated in 2006 on the Medill 2020 plan:
The realities of today’s media environment require an education that incorporates elements of both traditions, Lavine says. In a world of abundant choice for consumers and fierce competition for their time, journalists need to learn how to reach their audience with compelling stories and presentation, while marketers and communications students must understand how to think and write with the clarity of journalists, according to Lavine. http://www.northwestern.edu/magazine/fall2006/cover/cover/sidebar1.html
Wisely there never was a debate among reasonable, thinking adults about the need for change (only the process). Since 2006 for the journalism program and bluntly since 1989 for the IMC program the changes have been explored, tested, researched, authored, rejected, accepted and refined. As 2020 approaches, the challenge will be to build a viable alternative educational delivery system (a degree combining the content and credible values of journalism for many organizations) that may take as long as IMC has taken to be accepted – toward the year 2020.
For example, a team of communicators at Boeing Corporation operates as the internal communications staff. The team is lead by a former newspaper reporter and editor and staffed with traditional Medill journalism graduates. Their avowed goal is to “transparently communicate to the employees of Boeing” (confirm quote from October 18 2009 meeting).
The example of Boeing is prescient of the future of the need for a journalism based but more broadly targeted educational program in what could be logically, academically and professionally called: “organizational service journalism,” or organizational journalisms” While initial expressions of concern over this preliminary label seemed premature since the report had not been edited or submitted. The report offers in the appendix a combination and permutation of 2925 other phrases constructed from 27 possible degree title words selected from this study. The final choice should be the faculties
The values of the press including “freedom of expression” (Emerson, Fuchs 1992) do not apply only to the traditional news press. It may be time, again, to label the various estates related to the 4th estate of the press and journalism to clarify the richer list of “estates” available to the modern graduate... The discussion above from Adam and Lavine, established that journalism in this discussion is a not simply an organization but a highly professional intellectual process. From this discussion it is fair to suggest that the elements of journalism may be found and logically practiced in any number of institutions or estates.
Given the complex role of so many institutions from the historical 1st-4th Estates it might be reasonable to note the shifts of power and communications to the 1st through the 9th Estates. Therefore, the loss of credibility and the need to restore it for the new estates and old ones. The incumbent expectation of the provision of content may indeed make the new estates “more important than them all."
From the corporate and other organizational concept of transparency in financial, social and other reporting to the shifting search of employees, voters, investors and general public to non-traditional journalism sources for news and news like content, we have a caldron perfect for a more diverse and richly segmented communications “soup”.
William Baker calculates a very high level of unemployment among traditional news journalists: “There's no doubt that news in America is in trouble. Of the 60,000 print journalists employed throughout the nation in 2001, at least 10,000 have lost their jobs, and last year alone newspaper circulation dropped by a precipitous 7 percent. Internet, network and cable news employ a dwindling population of reporters, not nearly enough to cover a country of 300 million people, much less keep up with events around the world. It is no longer safe to assume, as the authors of the Constitution did, that free-flowing news and information will always be available to America's voters.” http://www.thenation.com/doc/20091012/baker
Baker’s government take-over (NPR, PBS) or foundation solution in The Nation may be just one of the “too big (or important) to fail” solutions to changing journalism’s future:
“Saving journalism might seem like an entirely new problem, but it's really just another version of one that Americans have solved many times before: how do we keep a vital public institution safe from the ups and downs of the economy? Private philanthropy and government support are the two best answers we have to this question.” http://www.thenation.com/doc/20091012/baker
The balance of this report has a modest suggestion of a more balanced, likely and institution building approach to advancing journalism as a provider of credible content.
Proposals for Program Research
Initial paper was shared with a dozen members of the leading elite organizations in public relations - Arthur W. Page Society (www.awpagesociety.com). The select group represents professional PR who led the communications function in corporations with $3,000,000 in sales and the top official of leading PR agencies. Members are selected for life-time appointments.
Several of the reviewers are also current or former adjunct professors in the Medill School of Journalism (IMC Department). The proposal was also read by selected members of the Medill faculty’s journalism educators (full-time) as well as full-time members of the IMC Department. Several graduate students in Journalism and IMC were asked for their opinion.
How can the values of the Medill School of Journalism, the values of professional journalism and the new gyrations of the professional employment market be aligned for the 21st century beginning in 2010?
The values of journalism as stated by Medill are most visibly found in 2009 at http://ugadm.northwestern.edu/freshman/academics/medill.htm
In its teaching, Medill has always emphasized three fundamentals to media reporting: accuracy, fairness, and balance. "There is a right way, an ethical way, to present the news," says Boye. "More than anything else we want Medill graduates to have a strong appreciation that this is what good journalism is all about."
From the Poynter Institute’s tolerant publishing of G. Stuart Adam’s Notes Towards a Definition of Journalism Understanding an old craft
as an art form: “Whatever else this journalism may be … it is the product of reporting — the gathering and presentation of slices and bits of human experience and thought selected from what N. K. Llewellyn once called the “aperceptive mass of behavior.” So journalism involves, and is defined to some extent by, reporting. But it also involves criticism, or editorializing, or the conferral of judgments on the shape of things. Each of the items in the foregoing inventory — some more consciously than others — involved a judgment or an assessment of the significance or value or worth of the actions of its subjects.” http://www.poynter.org/media/product/20030123_141216_24094.pdf
After meandering about in his essay for 27 pages Adam’s finally writes: “In other words, I am trying to define journalism in terms of what it is rather than by the medium through which it is circulated. Now I am prepared to commit myself.”
He writes: “There are minimally five elements or principles of design in any piece
of journalism that, although journalism may share some of these with
other forms of expression and although the elements may be unequally
represented in individual pieces, together mark and define it. In my
view, journalism comprises distinctive elements or principles (1) of
news, (2) of reporting or evidence-gathering, (3) of language, (4) of narration, and (5) of meaning.” (p. 23).
The readers of the report are fully familiar with Adam’s often used descriptors of journalism through other Medill School 2020 planning terms. Our language is similar but richer choice of words such as storytelling, audience, engaging, news, research, writing, technology, reporting, relevant, differentiated and more..
Dean Lavine stated in 2006 on the Medill 2020 plan:
The realities of today’s media environment require an education that incorporates elements of both traditions, Lavine says. In a world of abundant choice for consumers and fierce competition for their time, journalists need to learn how to reach their audience with compelling stories and presentation, while marketers and communications students must understand how to think and write with the clarity of journalists, according to Lavine. http://www.northwestern.edu/magazine/fall2006/cover/cover/sidebar1.html
Wisely there never was a debate among reasonable, thinking adults about the need for change (only the process). Since 2006 for the journalism program and bluntly since 1989 for the IMC program the changes have been explored, tested, researched, authored, rejected, accepted and refined. As 2020 approaches, the challenge will be to build a viable alternative educational delivery system (a degree combining the content and credible values of journalism for many organizations) that may take as long as IMC has taken to be accepted – toward the year 2020.
For example, a team of communicators at Boeing Corporation operates as the internal communications staff. The team is lead by a former newspaper reporter and editor and staffed with traditional Medill journalism graduates. Their avowed goal is to “transparently communicate to the employees of Boeing” (confirm quote from October 18 2009 meeting).
The example of Boeing is prescient of the future of the need for a journalism based but more broadly targeted educational program in what could be logically, academically and professionally called: “organizational service journalism,” or organizational journalisms” While initial expressions of concern over this preliminary label seemed premature since the report had not been edited or submitted. The report offers in the appendix a combination and permutation of 2925 other phrases constructed from 27 possible degree title words selected from this study. The final choice should be the faculties
The values of the press including “freedom of expression” (Emerson, Fuchs 1992) do not apply only to the traditional news press. It may be time, again, to label the various estates related to the 4th estate of the press and journalism to clarify the richer list of “estates” available to the modern graduate... The discussion above from Adam and Lavine, established that journalism in this discussion is a not simply an organization but a highly professional intellectual process. From this discussion it is fair to suggest that the elements of journalism may be found and logically practiced in any number of institutions or estates.
Given the complex role of so many institutions from the historical 1st-4th Estates it might be reasonable to note the shifts of power and communications to the 1st through the 9th Estates. Therefore, the loss of credibility and the need to restore it for the new estates and old ones. The incumbent expectation of the provision of content may indeed make the new estates “more important than them all."
From the corporate and other organizational concept of transparency in financial, social and other reporting to the shifting search of employees, voters, investors and general public to non-traditional journalism sources for news and news like content, we have a caldron perfect for a more diverse and richly segmented communications “soup”.
William Baker calculates a very high level of unemployment among traditional news journalists: “There's no doubt that news in America is in trouble. Of the 60,000 print journalists employed throughout the nation in 2001, at least 10,000 have lost their jobs, and last year alone newspaper circulation dropped by a precipitous 7 percent. Internet, network and cable news employ a dwindling population of reporters, not nearly enough to cover a country of 300 million people, much less keep up with events around the world. It is no longer safe to assume, as the authors of the Constitution did, that free-flowing news and information will always be available to America's voters.” http://www.thenation.com/doc/20091012/baker
Baker’s government take-over (NPR, PBS) or foundation solution in The Nation may be just one of the “too big (or important) to fail” solutions to changing journalism’s future:
“Saving journalism might seem like an entirely new problem, but it's really just another version of one that Americans have solved many times before: how do we keep a vital public institution safe from the ups and downs of the economy? Private philanthropy and government support are the two best answers we have to this question.” http://www.thenation.com/doc/20091012/baker
The balance of this report has a modest suggestion of a more balanced, likely and institution building approach to advancing journalism as a provider of credible content.
Proposals for Program Research
Initial paper was shared with a dozen members of the leading elite organizations in public relations - Arthur W. Page Society (www.awpagesociety.com). The select group represents professional PR who led the communications function in corporations with $3,000,000 in sales and the top official of leading PR agencies. Members are selected for life-time appointments.
Several of the reviewers are also current or former adjunct professors in the Medill School of Journalism (IMC Department). The proposal was also read by selected members of the Medill faculty’s journalism educators (full-time) as well as full-time members of the IMC Department. Several graduate students in Journalism and IMC were asked for their opinion.
Floating "PRournalism"
In two parts this blog reexamines the career directions of journalism at the graduate level. Despite the increase in applications to the field (due to the recession), the field is constricting day by day. The following discussion, drawn from a report to my university leadership, suggests that graduate journalism students can be redirected to NGO, corporate and government positions. These posts will require their knowledge, skills and natural desire to write and communicate. The clear communication weaknesses of so many international students and U.S. students demands that we find the very best journalism talent, but help them find a career where they can use the the two leading dimensions of journalism: 1. content and 2. credibility. By the way, the unfortunate word "prournalism" is a combination of public relations and journalism. The Handbook of Strategic Public Relations and Integrated Communications
First “C”: Content
The first issue of “who will provide content” is a contemporary issue that is argued by surviving members of the press, by researchers in the automated delivery of journalism and by investors in new media systems .
For example, the well publicized “test” announced October 16 2009 by the Chicago Tribune of the value of the AP wire service, the sharing of stories and content across an Ohio network of newspapers and media as told by Professor Owen Youngman suggest that content supply and demand are in flux. If a precipitous decline in the numbers of traditional news hunters and gatherers means a relative decline in content; then new sources for news content, information and even entertainment content will have to be developed, staffed and supported. http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2008/oct/16/bsiness/chicago-tribune-ap-oct16u
The content may be needed for the rapidly increasing numbers of newer channels of communications. However, while traditional journalistic channels are dying in some countries, they are growing rapidly in others such as China. The growth and demand for content includes the growth of advertising and public relations to feed the dragon..http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703816204574485044128954298.html Whether traditional journalism is dying or not, the demand for original content and new communication pipelines may be expected to outstrip the ability of even traditional journalistic content providers to create and disseminate information. in the midst of severe journalism cutbacks even in the field of business reporting. Journalism has always been an experimenter in new media as has public relations. From a mirror perspective both fields have served the public and their audiences with credible communication standards.
Technology Shifts
• From broadsheets, to tabloid to newspapers and back to tabloid
• From paper to computer screens to digital readers
• From print to electronic to digital
• From print to sound to video to digital forms
• From community to national to global and back to community
A somewhat useful search of Google for November 4, 2009 locates 167,000 searches for the phrase “who will provide content”. The more serious uses of the phrase and the concept of content are identified in two cases that 1. "operationalize" journalism as a professional provider of content (and not simply the traditional media and new organizations that have hired journalists) and 2. "Operationalize" public relations and corporate communications as professional assignments providing content for multiple stakeholders or a wide range of non-media and non-journalistic organizations. Paul Gillin wrote about the future of journalism in a where the role of journalists will be substantially pared: ( For one thing, the craft of journalism will evolve to include far more aggregation and organization than it has in the past. Editors will assemble their reports from a vast library of resources located across the Internet. Information will come from paid staff writers, others from freelancers and still more from reports and opinions published by independent third parties who Editors will still have a critical role, but their value will increasingly be in assembling and organizing information for readers who don’t have the time to sort through the vast Web.http://paulgillin.com/gillin/how-the-coming-newspaper-industry-collapse-will-reinvent-journalism/ with edits by Clarke Caywood for this report.
The future of the creation and dissemination of content was also described by Gillian under the title which parallels the work of this report as “How the Coming Newspaper Industry Collapse Will Reinvent Journalism”
Gillian wrote that “Editorial content is outsourced to an army of individual enthusiasts, former journalists working for a wide range of organizations and bloggers who find interesting information on the Web or original information from organizations and feed it to the site operators. Editorial expenses, which account for about a third of the operating costs of a daily newspaper, are practically zero.
What Gillian misses in both his creative predictions is the logical placement of traditional journalists and new journalists into a wide range of organizations from hospitals, to NGOs , to churches, to government and politics to the largest potential content provider - business. His “third party” journalists may be former journalists and new crops of young journalist able and willing to deliver content from their catbird seat in many legitimate organizations with huge quantities of digital information to share for free. His editors in surviving journalistic pipelines may be charged with determining the credibility of the content of the wider and wider range of content providers (rather than simply tossing the past high percent of public relations generated content .
http://paulgillin.com/gillin/how-the-coming-newspaper-industry-collapse-will-reinvent-journalism/
The content provider issue is on-going even the decline of reporting on business by the press was illustrated by David Carr’s November 1and 2, 2009 stories in the New York Times :
“Fortune magazine had already cut back to 18 issues a year from 25 and this week will be whacking anew at staff along with other Time Inc. magazines. BusinessWeek was sold for parts to Bloomberg a few weeks ago.”
“Instead, Forbes, a magazine that sells a beau idéal of capitalism, announced last week that it was cutting a quarter of its already decimated staff. The Wall Street Journal’s Boston bureau — historically a hothouse of game-changing business coverage — is being closed.”
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/the-media-equation-no-rally-for-business-media/?pagemode=print, http://bx.businessweek.com/magazine-industry/business-is-a-beat-deflated/6777786051928429494-75b532ee469e37c690aac826af91df26/
Graduate journalism schools sealed their fate decades ago by aligning their future with a single, narrowly defined economic industry. An industry that has been a relatively small (and growing smaller) fraction of industrial sector. The mistakes of the past cannot be undone, but the future of schools of journalism can certainly learn from history.
Business schools only marginally aligned their curricula with specific industries (real estate, transportation). In general, the teaching and research were “industry neutral”. Except for an overheated relationship with consulting firms, business schools have survived the multiple recessions that impact the placement of their students. In other educational fields such as engineering the organizational relationships are redefined by technology with some overproduction of students in selected fields like industrial engineering. However, the response in schools of science and technology has been to increasingly create joint field (Bio-engineering, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence). Even the very popular schools of communications have developed all weather sub-disciplines that survive on the generalized applications of communication theory and practice. Specialized areas such as theater which have always suffered from poor economic models are promoted as great for working in matrix management organizations (Stanford University).
The exception in schools of journalism has been the productive and popular fields of public relations and advertising found almost exclusively in the American educational model in journalism or journalism and communication schools or departments. Again, the alignment for research, teaching and graduate career building in PR and advertising (including IMC in the Medill School) is relatively industry neutral except for the agency side of the field. Both of these disciplines are able to use their specific knowledge, education and skills in a very wide range of businesses, NGOs, healthcare and other institutions. By deliberate design of curriculum and their placement service development the field of advertising and PR are more recession proof than their brethren in more narrowly conceived and implemented journalism.
Creating graduate programs that are less precipitously married to a single industry is not as simple as abandoning the original field. We know that the definition of journalism should be considered “wider” than the press. The question of who will provide content is an answerable question that can move forward with or without journalism schools vying for the new honors. However, there is something that journalism schools possess more than many other organizations that may create a new professional advantage for journalism in a wide range of organizations. More to come on credibility.
First “C”: Content
The first issue of “who will provide content” is a contemporary issue that is argued by surviving members of the press, by researchers in the automated delivery of journalism and by investors in new media systems .
For example, the well publicized “test” announced October 16 2009 by the Chicago Tribune of the value of the AP wire service, the sharing of stories and content across an Ohio network of newspapers and media as told by Professor Owen Youngman suggest that content supply and demand are in flux. If a precipitous decline in the numbers of traditional news hunters and gatherers means a relative decline in content; then new sources for news content, information and even entertainment content will have to be developed, staffed and supported. http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2008/oct/16/bsiness/chicago-tribune-ap-oct16u
The content may be needed for the rapidly increasing numbers of newer channels of communications. However, while traditional journalistic channels are dying in some countries, they are growing rapidly in others such as China. The growth and demand for content includes the growth of advertising and public relations to feed the dragon..http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703816204574485044128954298.html Whether traditional journalism is dying or not, the demand for original content and new communication pipelines may be expected to outstrip the ability of even traditional journalistic content providers to create and disseminate information. in the midst of severe journalism cutbacks even in the field of business reporting. Journalism has always been an experimenter in new media as has public relations. From a mirror perspective both fields have served the public and their audiences with credible communication standards.
Technology Shifts
• From broadsheets, to tabloid to newspapers and back to tabloid
• From paper to computer screens to digital readers
• From print to electronic to digital
• From print to sound to video to digital forms
• From community to national to global and back to community
A somewhat useful search of Google for November 4, 2009 locates 167,000 searches for the phrase “who will provide content”. The more serious uses of the phrase and the concept of content are identified in two cases that 1. "operationalize" journalism as a professional provider of content (and not simply the traditional media and new organizations that have hired journalists) and 2. "Operationalize" public relations and corporate communications as professional assignments providing content for multiple stakeholders or a wide range of non-media and non-journalistic organizations. Paul Gillin wrote about the future of journalism in a where the role of journalists will be substantially pared: ( For one thing, the craft of journalism will evolve to include far more aggregation and organization than it has in the past. Editors will assemble their reports from a vast library of resources located across the Internet. Information will come from paid staff writers, others from freelancers and still more from reports and opinions published by independent third parties who Editors will still have a critical role, but their value will increasingly be in assembling and organizing information for readers who don’t have the time to sort through the vast Web.http://paulgillin.com/gillin/how-the-coming-newspaper-industry-collapse-will-reinvent-journalism/ with edits by Clarke Caywood for this report.
The future of the creation and dissemination of content was also described by Gillian under the title which parallels the work of this report as “How the Coming Newspaper Industry Collapse Will Reinvent Journalism”
Gillian wrote that “Editorial content is outsourced to an army of individual enthusiasts, former journalists working for a wide range of organizations and bloggers who find interesting information on the Web or original information from organizations and feed it to the site operators. Editorial expenses, which account for about a third of the operating costs of a daily newspaper, are practically zero.
What Gillian misses in both his creative predictions is the logical placement of traditional journalists and new journalists into a wide range of organizations from hospitals, to NGOs , to churches, to government and politics to the largest potential content provider - business. His “third party” journalists may be former journalists and new crops of young journalist able and willing to deliver content from their catbird seat in many legitimate organizations with huge quantities of digital information to share for free. His editors in surviving journalistic pipelines may be charged with determining the credibility of the content of the wider and wider range of content providers (rather than simply tossing the past high percent of public relations generated content .
http://paulgillin.com/gillin/how-the-coming-newspaper-industry-collapse-will-reinvent-journalism/
The content provider issue is on-going even the decline of reporting on business by the press was illustrated by David Carr’s November 1and 2, 2009 stories in the New York Times :
“Fortune magazine had already cut back to 18 issues a year from 25 and this week will be whacking anew at staff along with other Time Inc. magazines. BusinessWeek was sold for parts to Bloomberg a few weeks ago.”
“Instead, Forbes, a magazine that sells a beau idéal of capitalism, announced last week that it was cutting a quarter of its already decimated staff. The Wall Street Journal’s Boston bureau — historically a hothouse of game-changing business coverage — is being closed.”
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/the-media-equation-no-rally-for-business-media/?pagemode=print, http://bx.businessweek.com/magazine-industry/business-is-a-beat-deflated/6777786051928429494-75b532ee469e37c690aac826af91df26/
Graduate journalism schools sealed their fate decades ago by aligning their future with a single, narrowly defined economic industry. An industry that has been a relatively small (and growing smaller) fraction of industrial sector. The mistakes of the past cannot be undone, but the future of schools of journalism can certainly learn from history.
Business schools only marginally aligned their curricula with specific industries (real estate, transportation). In general, the teaching and research were “industry neutral”. Except for an overheated relationship with consulting firms, business schools have survived the multiple recessions that impact the placement of their students. In other educational fields such as engineering the organizational relationships are redefined by technology with some overproduction of students in selected fields like industrial engineering. However, the response in schools of science and technology has been to increasingly create joint field (Bio-engineering, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence). Even the very popular schools of communications have developed all weather sub-disciplines that survive on the generalized applications of communication theory and practice. Specialized areas such as theater which have always suffered from poor economic models are promoted as great for working in matrix management organizations (Stanford University).
The exception in schools of journalism has been the productive and popular fields of public relations and advertising found almost exclusively in the American educational model in journalism or journalism and communication schools or departments. Again, the alignment for research, teaching and graduate career building in PR and advertising (including IMC in the Medill School) is relatively industry neutral except for the agency side of the field. Both of these disciplines are able to use their specific knowledge, education and skills in a very wide range of businesses, NGOs, healthcare and other institutions. By deliberate design of curriculum and their placement service development the field of advertising and PR are more recession proof than their brethren in more narrowly conceived and implemented journalism.
Creating graduate programs that are less precipitously married to a single industry is not as simple as abandoning the original field. We know that the definition of journalism should be considered “wider” than the press. The question of who will provide content is an answerable question that can move forward with or without journalism schools vying for the new honors. However, there is something that journalism schools possess more than many other organizations that may create a new professional advantage for journalism in a wide range of organizations. More to come on credibility.
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