I almost threw up at the Museum of Science and Industry yesterday.
I went to see – with an anticipation years in the making – Body Worlds, an exhibit that features the skinned, flayed and plastinated bodies of humans who donated their corporal selves to a fellow named Gunther van Hagens. It is at once medically informative and voyeuristically exhibitionist. Read the rest of this entry »
Looks like Goldman Sachs is hoping an ad campaign will help.
As my outrage over awful online advertising simmers, I took a look tonight at some of the nation’s largest newspaper sites, and some that I frequent often, to see what kind of ads they’re running “above the fold.” I’m happy to report that very few of them are displaying the atrocious cookie-cutter ads I have come to despise – though one site, which shall remain nameless, has a rotating series of ads, meaning the worthless ads have been pushed off the page.
Without further ado:
USA Today features two ads for Chase, which take up a skbox and part of the right rail.
The Wall Street Journal is running an ad for MB Financial.
I may make it my personal mission to put an end to the ridiculous ads that populate news sites. You know, the ones with the local mom who makes $100 an hour at home, or how to whiten your teeth using…something. Or this gem, on how to lose that love handle:
Now this ad is on the website of a very reputable newspaper, albeit one that has seen its ad revenue drop in recent years, like all other papers.
Here’s the kicker: THE LINK IS BROKEN.
The space where this ad sits, in the top right corner of the site, is prime real estate. Real estate which could go to a valuable local advertiser, or perhaps one that will pay for the privilege, which I suspect this advertiser, Blink New Media, does not.
Ridiculous.
If you’ve read the criminal complaint against County Board President Todd Stroger’s former deputy chief of staff Carla Oglesby, you’ll see a confusing hodgepodge of letters identifying various individuals. Public official B, Individual C, so on and so forth.
Through public records and news reports, we can identify or at least have an intelligent guess about who most of these people are. Can you help fill in the blanks?
Already we know that Oglesby, arrested Monday afternoon for various corruption charges, is the owner of CGC Communications, a small PR firm that helped with Stroger’s campaign’s publicity efforts during the primary campaign.
So, let’s go through the proffer and have a go at it. Characters are listed in order of appearance. Read the rest of this entry »
When I read the news that Carla Oglesby, deputy chief of staff to County Board President Todd Stroger, had been arrested on charges relating to siphoning contracts to her friends and her own company, I literally jumped out of my seat.
So sayeth the Tribune:
Oglesby is charged with theft of government property, a class X felony punishable by six to 30 years upon conviction. She’s also charged with felony counts of money laundering and official misconduct.
It was a shocking (maybe) conclusion to an ignominious tenure on the fifth floor of the County Building. Her very presence in the Stroger administration was puzzling, given her background as a publicist for rappers and athletes. Then there was the consistent strain of news gushing out of the County Building, each one chronicling another shady contract designed to escape the scrutiny of county commissioners. There’s been no word yet (as of Monday night) from the Stroger administration, which is formulating a response.
Carla Oglesby is taken in to custody (WGN)
Let’s recap Oglesby’s rise to the corridors of Cook County power – and her various failures, embarrassments and alleged crimes.
In December, her PR firm, CGC Communications, was retained by Stroger as he sought to win the Democratic primary. He lost badly, and his bid for reelection was not helped by CGC, which relied on an insular PR strategy, which isolated the media and targeted Stroger’s base. I chronicled the communications failures when I covered the race for the Chicago Current.
In February, shortly after Stroger was trounced by Chicago Alderman Toni Preckwinkle, MWRD President Terry O’Brien and Clerk Dorothy Brown, he hired Oglesby as his deputy chief of staff, a post that the administration paid about $116,000. Later officials would say she actually made $120,000.
In perhaps a very poor choice of words, looking back, Stroger said Oglesby “understands the initiatives and opportunities to which my administration is committed, and is dedicated to joining me in doing all we can to support policy and programs that help the people of Cook County.” Read the rest of this entry »
I was perusing Groupon’s site today, looking for when I could schedule the dental appointment I purchased the other day, and I came across this interesting image:
That’s right: In one day, the Tribune sold nearly 7,500 subscriptions to its Sunday edition. Now, that’s a tiny piece of the hundreds of thousands of subscriptions it already has, but it’s pretty darn good for one day. The Washington Post had a good day, too.
Print publications striking deals with Groupon is becoming a booming business in the world of dead trees. I’m about to fall asleep, so I don’t have the energy to analyze this solid Nieman Lab piece - which does a great job of analysis itself – so I’ll leave it to you to read (for now, at least). The bottom line: Groupon’s getting subscribers…but the key is to hold onto them for the long haul. Read the rest of this entry »
I guess this shouldn’t come as shocking news, given the way things are going, but when Arthur Sulzberger, publisher of the The New York Times, says the Times will halt its print product at some point in the future, one takes note.
The date is “TBD,” but other publishers should take note.
The Web is so important, and even though the ad model is up in the air, that doesn’t mean publishers should sit back and wait for something to happen. It’s about molding your own destiny, taking chances and forging a path for yourself.
Even if newspapers are not ignoring the Web, even if they’ve accepted it as the main vehicle for delivering breaking news and analysis, many papers still run websites that look like they’re straight out of the dark ages of the 1990s.
I think this is a turnoff to readers.
It’s about first impressions. If you are interviewing a job candidate who smells like last night’s jager shots and is wearing a crumpled suit, you have an idea of what you’re getting. If you see a Corvette with a peeling paint job, flat tires and a missing mirror, you have an idea of what you’re getting.
The same goes for newspapers that refuse to incorporate good design, interactivity, engagement and a user-friendly model for accessing the news.
It shows people that the Web is not important, that the website is a placeholder of sorts and that the online experience is not at the forefront of a strategy that absolutely must, has to, needs to embrace all the amazing things we have at our fingertips.
Users will migrate to other sites that provide news. They will dismiss you. They will leave you, and that is sad and scary.
These are my mid-day thoughts. That is all.
This is old news, but it’s new to me. USA Today and location-based application Gowalla have started a partnership for USA Today readers on the road.
Writes Mashable:
Gowalla (
) users who follow USA Today and check in at major U.S. airports will receive airport and airline news and features from the news organization’s Travel section and online community.
Users can also embark on one of USA Today’s Trips, highlighting eight to ten destinations in ten major U.S. cities — New York, Seattle, Atlanta, Houston, Chicago, Boston, West L.A., Las Vegas, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. — curated by the company’s editorial staff.
Those who complete a Trip will receive a Jet Setter pin for their Gowalla Passport.
I think this is so cool, and it’s something local news organizations can use as a model. As I wrote a few weeks ago, there are major opportunities for collaboration with business and reader engagement. Maybe you’ll even make a buck or two. At the very least, you’re moving with the times and becoming a ubiquitous presence. And that’s important given the number of other options readers have.
If you know of any other news organizations with a similar partnership, please let me know in the comments section (besides the FT, WSJ and Duke Chronicle, that is).
In a related topic, I can see how Foursquare could be used for social good. But is THIS taking it a bit too far?
The New York Times has an interesting article looking at how major newspapers use online metrics to decide how to shape their news coverage. While the majority say they don’t pander to audiences, offbeat stories often trump what newsies would call the more important stories.
The most interesting part of the story for me was how the LA Times allows users to receive personalized news feeds. This is great for readers – and something I touched on the (totally amazing and insightful) white paper I probably mention too much – but I wonder if it is part of the dumbing down of society. Chicago Public Radio allowed readers to provide feedback on how they would like to see the station’s website set up in preparation for a redesign; these lessons can translate to everyday operations, in my opinion. Read the rest of this entry »
