Post Intelligencer, post-print

March 6, 2009 ~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

With news coming this week that the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s print version may go the way of the Rocky Mountain News, we may be at the cusp of a new era in local news reporting.

The Post-Intelligencer (P-I) looks like it will shut down it’s printing presses and release an online-only version. Aside from printing and delivery, it means the P-I will also cut out reporter travel – national stories will be covered by wire services or by other sister papers in the Hearst network.

(Sidebar: Since it’s in the Hearst network, will the last printed word in the P-I have to be “rosebud”?)

There’s no dwindling market for local news, as the TV ratings show. But local daily newspapers are dinosaurs – slow-moving and cumbersome. The question is how the old media outlets adjust in a new media world. Will they see the online world as a way to stave off extinction for a few years, or will they find a way to evolve?

Chances are, the P-I – and other similar papers around the country – could do very well writing stories and posting them online. But why stop there? Online, they won’t be confined as they were on the printed page. They have multiple forms of media – audio, video, and everything in between – at their fingertips.

The dangerous trap here is thinking in terms of “media buckets” on a local level, as people have thought for decades: the TV stations are in the video bucket, the radio stations in the audio bucket, and the newspapers in the printed word bucket. There are no buckets online, so it doesn’t translate.

The end of the P-I’s print version isn’t necessarily an ending, but a liberation. The P-I can now combine printed stories about Seattle with short video news segments and podcasts. It can exist on its website as well as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Ning, and everywhere else. It can serve the people of Seattle, and be the authority on Seattle to everyone else.

The dinosaurs didn’t die out overnight, but eventually time caught up with most of them. Except for the smart ones; they learned to fly.

Jim Eltringham at 30

March 5, 2009 ~ Jim Eltringham ~ 5 Comments

“So here I am, getting older all the time / Looking older all the time / Feeling younger in my mind…” – Goldfinger

Today is my 30th birthday, and I’m pretty excited. To celebrate, today’s post isn’t about the White House, online media, message development, or anything else like that. Or, come to think of it, maybe it is about all that stuff, in a way.

Today, I’m sharing with you 30 lessons I’ve learned that have helped shape who I am as a person over the first three decades of my life. I’m not going to say I’ve always followed each one to the letter – but when I have, I’ve found I’m a lot happier:

30. Be nice to people on the way up – not because you’ll see them on the way down, but because it’s the right thing to do.

29. Try to keep your sense of humor. Laughing at the mundane speed bumps keeps you well-grounded.

28. The Beatles had it right: All you need is love. So did the Dave Matthews Band: Turns out, it’s not where but who you’re with that really matters.

27. The faster you move, the slower time passes, the longer you live.

26. To-do lists are effective; and prioritized to-do lists are even better. But make sure your priorities are in order.

25. A job is never really yours until you’re ready to leave it.

24. Ideas don’t have consequences. Actions have consequences.

23. It’s important to be honest with others, but even more important – and sometimes more difficult – to be honest with yourself.

22. In recreational sports, play hard but don’t take it too seriously.

21. Your best friends will be your best friends through an awful lot. But don’t abuse that, because everyone has a limit.

20. Good things come to those who wait – but only what’s left from those who hustle.

19. State education may not be considered the best schooling, but it’s the best education. And the nuns… well, don’t get me started.

18. Government shouldn’t force you to love thy neighbor, and in reality they can’t. You should already be doing that on your own.

17. “Kites rise highest against the wind – not with it.” – Winston Churchill

16. If you can ever work from home, do it.

15. Appreciate your surroundings.

14. “Toil is good for the soul.” – Dan Klenck

13. My Mom was right about just about everything.

12. If you hold on tight to what you think is your thing you may find you’re missing all the rest.

11. Viewing yourself through others’ eyes can be a useful exercise but a dangerous habit.

10. Pray as if it all depended on God, but work as if it all depended on you.

9. If you ever need to get pumped up – for a new job or any other endeavor – a viewing of the Mighty Ducks is just what the doctor ordered.

8. Fear, anger, and aggression are the ways of the Dark Side.

7. Come to think of it, my Dad was right about just about everything, too.

6. Follow your gut. Where I have regrets, it’s usually because I over-thought things; I’m not nearly as regretful about times I’ve followed instincts that proved to be wrong.

5. In every crisis, there are elements of danger – and elements of opportunity.

4. There are such things as guardian angels.

3. In tough times, you have to keep smiling and dare the world to knock that smile off your face. And when it tries to do just that, you have to smile wider.

2. Family comes first.

1. This one just hit me this morning: You’re only old when you wake up in the morning and feel like your best days are behind you. If you wake up every day feeling like you are about to embark on a new adventure, you will always be young – no matter how long ago you were born or how sore your body is.

I hope you have a very happy March 5, 2009!

Girl Scouts 2.0

March 3, 2009 ~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

The Girl Scouts understand two concepts which have escaped the people at the controls of the economy: supply and demand.

The Girl Scouts of America have announced sweeping changes in order to boost membership. Recognizing that this isn’t 1955 anymore, the concepts of campfire sing-a-longs, sewing and cooking, and even merit badges are being replaced by video conferences, financial responsibility training, and a leadership development curriculum. With more girls socializing online, blogs and online networks are emphasized (which gives the Girl Scouts a chance to teach about online safety, too).

Breathe easy, those peanut-butter-and-chocolate cookies aren’t going anywhere.

Of course it’s sad when traditions are phased out, but the Girl Scouts are reacting to the reality of dwindling membership – the organization was forced to change to meet the needs and demands of today. By clinging to those traditions, the Girl Scouts could serve nostalgia-seekers, but not the young girls who need them – and they would slowly die out.

Any industry seeking a bailout should heed the example of the Girl Scouts. And if the parallels aren’t readily clear, maybe they could go door to door selling thin mints for a week or so – apparently, you can pick up pretty sound economic lessons that way.

They were going to call it O-Tube, but that sounds dirty

March 2, 2009 ~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

The weekly White House “YouTube” addresses aren’t going to be on YouTube anymore. Instead, the videos will be hosted by a customized player. In the absence of a formal explanation, some are suggesting conflicts over YouTube’s privacy policies.

As Cnet chronicles, the White House has been under criticism since the beginning for choosing Google-owned YouTube as its video hosting platform. The change may silence criticism of the White House, but it won’t solve any of the root privacy concerns circling around Google and YouTube.

Could the White House have used its bully pulpit to make YouTube more secure? It certainly would have been a better service to internet users – after all, the folks who follow the President’s weekly addresses probably view hundreds of other videos on YouTube as well. President Obama could have been vocal in calling on YouTube to change its policies to better serve its users.

Of course, it may not be about privacy. YouTube is more than just a video site – it is an online community. The President’s Weekly Address is just one of millions of videos; and being on a site like YouTube invites comments and video responses. Maybe YouTube is too public a forum; perhaps the White House is unwilling to sacrifice their message monopoly to engage in a legitimate back-and-forth debate.

Rebuilding around Palin

October 29, 2008October 9, 2009 ~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

The New York Times and CNN both ran stories this morning about Sarah Palin being the standard bearer of the Republican Party over the next four years, and possibly longer. (The Times piece includes a quote from my former boss, Morton Blackwell, positively giddy about getting within four feet of Palin at a fundraiser.)

It’s true that Palin’s ascension to the VP spot on the ticket was a symptom of the GOP’s short bench – but no more than John McCain’s ascension to the top of the ticket. But she was also the best pick – a true small government conservative – and moving forward, she has the potential to give a credible voice to the Party from well outside the Beltway.

And though her support outside her conservative base has suffered from a harsh campaign, her wounds may not be fatal. Even Linda Bloodworth-Thomas – the television producer who used an entire episode of Designing Women to bash Clarence Thomas (no relation) – said she was fed up with the “demonizing” of Palin and red-staters.

It’s not hard to get sick of the treatment she has received, including the attacks on her experience (from the campaign of a guy who only has a Senate seat because Mike Ditka allowed it) and a silly RNC clothing budget controversy – which is a top story for all our major news outlets because everything else in the country is apparently going pretty well.

BlackBerry Buzz

September 16, 2008March 29, 2010 ~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

I just got back from a much-too-short vacation, during which I turned off my BlackBerry, dropped it into a drawer, and didn’t even look at it for three days. Speaking of BlackBerries, the internet is all abuzz with headlines like this:

“Campaign: John McCain Invented the BlackBerry”

My first thought: “#$%& you, John McCain, for making me reachable at 3:00 a.m.” Just because Hillary Clinton is ready to take the call doesn’t mean I’m ready to take the email.

Then I read the actual posts by Wired’s normally-dependable Sarah Lai Stirland and Politico’s Jonathan Martin about this seemingly ridiculous claim. Both quote as their source McCain adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who waved his BlackBerry in the air as evidence of developments in telecommunications over the past 15 years.

That’s not my spin. That’s Martin’s account:

“Asked what work John McCain did as chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee that helped him understand the financial markets, the candidate’s top economic adviser wielded visual evidence: his BlackBerry. ‘He did this,’ Douglas Holtz-Eakin told reporters this morning, holding up his BlackBerry. ‘Telecommunications of the United States is a premier innovation in the past 15 years, comes right through the Commerce Committee. So you’re looking at the miracle John McCain helped create and that’s what he did.'”

Holtz-Eakin is taking too much credit for his boss – after all, no Senate Committee can or should really take credit for the innovations that companies like Apple, Research In Motion, AT&T, and others have made through their private research and development. But can anyone actually read this as a claim – even a mistaken one – that John McCain invented the BlackBerry?

The folks who are making hay over this are looking to create a parallel with the storm around Al Gore’s much-ridiculed “inventing the internet” gaffe. Of course, the joke about Gore stems from a direct quote (“During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet”). Drawing similarities with a staffer waving a prop is a stretch to say the least.

Moore for less

September 6, 2008September 23, 2009 ~ Jim Eltringham ~ 2 Comments

Good news! You won’t have to pay a dime to see Michael Moore’s next movie. Slacker Uprising, a documentary about Michael Moore travelling around the country during the 2004 election, will be available for free download on September 23. (But only for U.S. and Canadian citizens, which is of course wrong because we are a nation of immigrants.)

Moore claims the digital freebie is a thank-you note to his legions of adoring fans. More probably, he realized that fewer people than usual would go see it. His previous films, which dealth with issues like health care, gun control, or the war on terror, had an element of hot-of-the-presses controversy; Slacker Uprising deals with a speaking tour that tried (and failed) to affect an election four years ago.

Second (and, truth be told, more important), Moore must realize that, although big theatrical releases are great, this is 2008, and that ideas on film spread faster through viral video. Moore’s crackpot ideas have a better chance at exposure if his potential followers aren’t asked to plunk down $9.75 for the experience.

Old Timers Day Part I: On The Way

August 2, 2008January 10, 2013 ~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

I’m writing this on a Greyhound bus on my way to New York City – more specifically, to Yankee Stadium, where it is Old Timers Day.

I turned 29 this year, and getting a step away from 30 gives your younger friends license to make fun of you. It also means that, during a doctor visit, you start to get warnings about watching your weight in the next few years. But none of this has made me so old as the Yankees releasing their 2008 Old Timers Day roster.

This year’s roster is stacked with heroes from my golden years as a baseball fan, 1993-2001. Not only did the Yankees win four championships in that span, but I saw on television or listened on the radio to a large percentage of the baseball they played during that time. And in going to games pretty regularly since 1998, I have seen many of them in person.

When I was younger and watching Old Timers Day with my Dad, it seemed like he had a story for every player – one guy might have been great at throwing trick pitches; another might have been as good a clutch hitter as my Dad had ever seen, things like that. This, year, I have my own stories to tell about Old Timers like Paul O’Neill, Tino Martinez, David Wells, Jimmy Key, Mike Stanley, Jeff Nelson, Ramiro Mendoza, Wade Boggs, Jim Abbott, Pat Kelley, Graeme Lloyd, Darryl Strawberry, and Tim Raines.

"Wall Street was drunk…"

July 31, 2008 ~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

Last week, a few blogs picked up on this video of President Bush speaking “off the record” at a Houston fundraiser. The President talks about Wall Street being “drunk” and waiting to “sober up” to illustrate economic woes. “That’s why I asked you to turn your television cameras off,” he quips, apparently unaware that a small camcorder is recording him.

It may not be a White House leak, but it is certainly a good video for the President. He shows the personal side and sense of humor and humanity that made it easy for Americans to rally behind him in the years following September 11.

This video may not have gotten enough coverage to cause any bump in W’s approval ratings – and even if it did, it’s too little too late. If Bush had maintained this kind of visibility in his second term, though, his approval ratings might not be setting record lows. Bush’s strength has always been his ability to connect with and earn the trust of the populace – on a personal level.

This was the President America had hoped to see when they re-elected him in 2004. In this video, he demonstrated an understanding of the challenges facing average Americans – and the role of Wall Street excesses, which is something Republicans are reluctant to admit. But Bush does it in an effective way – he gives a roadmap through the current economic crisis without calling for big-government regulations that would probably only make things worse.

It’s just too bad we haven’t seen this President for the last four years.

Your Next President?

July 23, 2008 ~ Jim Eltringham ~ 1 Comment

Since 1960 — and especially since 1976 — American Presidential contests have been decided based more on media images more than policy. While it’s true that the mainstream media has a girlish crush on Barack Obama, it’s also true that Obama is a master of media images. Case in point: the image to the left, which appeared on the New York Times home page yesterday.

It looks like Obama is co-piloting a helicopter, and it could very well be a still from an action movie. In other words, it’s the perfect image to get out there if you have recently been accused of being weak-kneed in your beliefs and flip-flopping on several issues.

And while Obama looks like he’s out of central casting for Airwolf: The Movie, John McCain still looks like Ernest Borgnine.