Category Archives: journalist

Why paperless journalists need Canvas for OneNote

OneNote is perhaps the most under-rated Microsoft Office application, not in my book. It is an essential tool for a paperless journalist.

I’ve used Microsoft OneNote since I first saw it on one of the old-style Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PCs in the early 2000s.

Microsoft built OneNote as a note-taking tool for the pen-based Tablet PCs. It can handle typed and handwritten notes, drawings, screen clips and snatches of audio.

OneNote is my paperless database

OneNote is a wonderful tool for a paperless journalist. I use it to collect snippets of information used to write news and features. Technically its a free-form database.

From my point of view its best features are the way it integrates with Microsoft Windows and Office. I can quickly search for data and when found moving between Word and OneNote is simple. OneNote also lets me organise data in the ramshackle way that suits me.

Even better with a scanner

Coupled with a scanner, OneNote has helped me get rid of the piles of paper that once cluttered my desk.

One of the great things about paper was the way it could be organized on my desk. Maybe organised is too grand a term, but you get the picture.

Canvas shows the full picture

The Canvas add-on for OneNote from Microsoft Office Labs recreates that creative paper-on-desktop feel. It does wonders for me when I’m sorting through my notes. I might add here, OneNote even better at the job now I have a 24-inch widescreen desktop display. I can quickly marshal my thoughts as I prepare to write more complicated articles.

Canvas has been upgraded since I first looked at it. The new version works with OneNote 2010 and there’s been some tidying up over the way it looks.

Dealing with journalists when you want publicity

If you have a product or service to sell, you want customers to hear about it.

Word-of-mouth marketing is a great jumping-off point when you’re starting out; eventually you’ll need to reach a wider audience.

Popular web sites, newspapers, magazines, TV and radio have the wider audience. Publicity is an effective way of reaching it.

Publicity often means working with journalists. There are ways of doing this properly and there are traps to avoid. First the background:

Publicity isn’t advertising

Businesses can get media attention through advertising or publicity. They operate in parallel universes.

Advertising is a commercial deal between you and a media company. You buy access to consumers. You provide what the advertising industry calls ‘copy’.

If you’ve got a large budget, hire a creative team to prepare your copy. It is worth it if you’re running a major campaign: talented advertising specialists know how to press the right buttons and get results.

Advertising means you get to say where, when and how often the copy runs. You control the message and the delivery. Up to a point. Some publishers refuse certain ads and there are laws about what you can and can’t say in an advertisement.

Journalists control your message

In contrast, you have almost no control over publicity. Editors, journalists, photographers and other media professionals make the important decisions. They may listen to you, they might not.

It all depends on newsworthiness. If your message strikes a chord, they’ll take notice. If the message is boring, they’ll ignore it.

To get publicity, you must convince journalists your story will interest their readers.

If publicity is that simple, why does it often go wrong?

No easy short cuts

Straightforward marketing messages are rarely newsworthy. Rather than working to find fresh, newsworthy angles, companies look for short cuts.

The most obvious is applying pressure. It can backfire badly.

Some companies imply they will place advertising with a media property in return for favourable editorial treatment.

At best this insults journalists or offends their professional pride. At worst ethical considerations mean they either can’t touch your story or they choose to take a more hostile approach just to prove their independence.

This is good business

You might think editors and journalist would jump at the chance of promised advertising. As we’ll see in a moment, some will.

The best ones won’t. That’s because readers prefer editorial with a strong ethical code.

Not only do more readers read the editorial in an ethical publication; more readers get to see the advertising material. Better still, properties with strong, ethical editorial standards deliver better – more involved or wealthier – customers.

Advertising works best when the editorial is credible.

Their story now

Even when a journalist responds favourably to your publicity pitch, they still get to choose what is said, where it is said and when the story runs. Their loyalty is to readers, not to you.

Journalists get to choose the angle. They decide how many words to devote to your message and they choose whether your rivals comment or not. An editor might use your supplied photographs or other graphic material, they may not. A journalist – usually a sub-editor, will write the headline and captions.

There are media properties that will ask for a payment to run your publicity material or agree to run it if you buy advertising elsewhere. You may be tempted. The audience won’t be as good and you may be disappointed by the results.

Using a specialist publicist

While many businesses organise their own publicity, others hire specialist public relations or PR consultants. Their job is to know which media properties and media professionals are receptive to which message.

A good PR company will save you time and trouble. They’ll prepare your message and train you to handle the inevitable follow-up questions. They’ll make sure the message gets to the right people at the right time.

They cultivate contacts and learn the best way to approach each potential outlet.

Public relations companies rarely guarantee results. You should go out of your way to avoid PR operators making that kind of promise.

Checklist: Dealing with journalists

  • Publicity isn’t advertising. You’re not in control
  • Newsworthiness is everything.
  • Journalists want material that will interest readers
  • Journalists aren’t your sales people
  • Publications with strong editorial values are the best outlets
  • A PR or publicity professional can get better results

Canned PR tweets insult journalists

I can’t be the only journalist offended when a PR company includes suggested tweets with a press release.

Earlier this week I received a dull press release about an even duller technology company. Something happened that doesn’t really qualify as news – I won’t bore you with the details.

Buried in the release was the message:

Tweet this:

Followed by a clickable tweet.

Clicking the item would open up my Twitter account and load in the company’s lame propaganda along with a hash tag for a targeted key word and a shortened link to marketing material on that company’s website.

I don’t like this for a number of reasons:

  1. If I clicked on the link I would effectively be providing the company with a free advertisement.
  2. Having the message go out under my Twitter name would amount to my endorsing the product. That’s not a good look for an independent journalist.
  3. The canned tweet puts words in my mouth – well at least metaphorically. Of course I could edit the words, but that’s not the point.
  4. The command to Tweet this is a bit rich. How about “would you mind tweeting this for us”?: No that wouldn’t change my course of action, but at least I wouldn’t come away with the impression I was deal with a bunch of bossy, arrogant control freaks.
  5. There’s a shortened URL embedded in the tweet. I wouldn’t be dumb enough to retweet the message without checking what’s on the other end of the link, but no doubt the PR company behind this thinks there will be people who would.
  6. Did I mention I don’t like being told what to do?

Getting a press release like this is insulting. Do some PR people think journalists are simply promotional drones waiting and willing to do their bidding? 

Ten best social media practices for journalists

I’m impressed by The American Society of News Editors 10 best practices for social media. The main document is a 50 page PDF with samples and short, very short, case studies.

Here’s the top ten list with my commentary on each point.

  1. Traditional ethics rules still apply online.
    - This is one thing separating real journalists from bloggers and other citizen journalists. Ethics are part of your personal brand as a journalist.
  2. Assume everything you write online will become public.
    - there are private channels on most social media tools, use them if you need to, but remember people may broadcast them later.
  3. Use social media to engage with readers, but professionally.
    - Just because other people are chatty, use bad language and behave badly doesn’t mean you have to.
  4. Break news on your website, not on Twitter.
    - Apart from anything else, there’s no simple way to turn a tweet into money. At least web traffic may attract advertising revenue.
  5. Beware of perceptions.
    - They are not reality. Remember some of the tweets you see are from professional spinners who are masters of the realm of perceptions.
  6. Independently authenticate anything found on a social networking site.
    Just because someone says something, it ain’t necessarily so.
  7. Always identify yourself as a journalist.
    - I’m not sure how practical this is. My profile says I’m a journalist. Most people who know me understand I’m a journalist.
  8. Social networks are tools not toys.
    - That doesn’t mean they can’t be fun though.
  9. Be transparent and admit when you’re wrong online.
    - I’ve become much better at this lately. I thought it was to do with getting older and wiser, but maybe its a function of the technology and more accountable news channels.
  10. Keep internal deliberations confidential.
    - doh!

A tribute to text editors at 10,000 Words

10,000 words has a useful piece on text editors. Ethan Klapper looks at three tools to deal with HTML, PHP and CSS files – three types of web code modern journalists should at least be familiar with, if not fluent in.

I use the mentioned Notepad ++ to work on this site. the application is useful because it understands HTML, PHP and CSS code using colour and collapsible sections to make the job easier.

Plain text is underrated as a writing tool. I’ve just returned from covering a conference. When I arrived at the venue, the version of Microsoft Office installed on my laptop had timed out and there wasn’t an opportunity to fix matters.

This meant I had to file my stories using plain text. It worked perfectly and I barely skipped a beat. The experience reminded me of what I’ve already written about, Word is a huge complex application, journalists barely use 10% of its functionality.

A tribute to text editors.

Reorganising New Zealand media on Twitter directory

By the time I add the latest entries, my New Zealand media on Twitter list will contain more than 200 entries.

The list is too long for a single page, so I’ve broken it in to smaller lists – there are seven at the time of writing with more to come. This will make it easier for me to manage and simpler for people to quickly find the names they need.

I’ve decided to call it a directory instead of a list because that’s what it has turned into. My original idea was to get a list of a few dozen New Zealand journalists – the majority of whom I follow.

Over time I’ll add more features to make it easier to navigate. If you’ve any ideas on ways I can better present the data, let me know.

I’ve used a wonderful WordPress plug-in from a talented developer called Tobias Bäthge. Tobias wrote a small extra piece of code that means each Twitter address links back to the person’s profile page at twitter.com.