Who Reads Books Anymore?

It's the start of another university school year. The bookstore is thriving on the book purchases that students are required by professors to make.

But what about reading for fun? Does anybody do it anymore?

A recent AP-Ipsos poll finds that 25 percent of adults didn't read ANY books last year! The other 75 percent reported reading an average of seven books in 2006.

What's that? About one book every two months?

Okay, so a book is this print thing that has lots of pages, costs money, and has to be lugged around. It's not instantanous, and it's not on a screen for free.

Most college students probably read so much for school that many don't read for entertainment during their university years. Of course, if you don't read for entertainment, reading a book for school might be a painful experience...

So there might be three questions here:
1. Do you read books? How many? How often? What genre?
2. Do you read anything for entertainment? Websites, online books, comic books?
3. And if you don't read books...or much of anything for fun... why not?

If you missed the 40th Anniversary bash...

Here's the video!

First there was Ronald, and then Arnold, and now Al!

America has seen its share of movie stars and TV actors who have made the leap from entertainment to politics. Ronal Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger are just two recent examples. But is America ready for a former comedian in the Senate? I know what you’re thinking…it couldn’t be any worse that some of the jokers we have now.

More than twenty years ago Neil Postman observed the demise of serious political discourse and identified television as the culprit. According to Postman, the triviality of television makes everything on it trivial…including political speech and campaigning. In Amusing Ourselves to Death, Postman argued, “The problem is not that television presents us with entertaining subject matter but that all subject matter is presented as entertaining” (p. 87). Postman maintained that television reduces important conversations to snippits and sound bites, with too much attention paid to the image and too little to the message. For Postman, as with McLuhan, the medium is the message--and TV is a visual medium that caters to those who have short attention spans. Postman also observed more than twenty years ago that the emphasis on the visual nature of the medium means that we will no longer consider overweight or homely candidates. And those with facial hair shouldn’t even think about running for office. But for a candidate who is blessed with good looks, a quick wit, and an ability to perform in front of the cameras, the sky (or the Whitehouse) is the limit.

It would come as no surprise to Postman, (who died in 2003) that Al Franken, a comedian, whose claim-to-fame is as a writer and actor for Saturday Night Live, could consider a run for political office.

Postman, N. (1985). Amusing ourselves to death: Public discourse in the age of show business. NY: Penguin books.

The Dixie Chicks and their Grammys

At this year's Grammy Awards, the Dixie Chicks won in all five categories in which they were nominated (Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, Best Country Album, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Album of the Year).

Do you think these awards were given as an industry message in support of free speech? Or was it a message from an often-perceived liberal industry thumbing its nose at right-leaning music fans? Maybe there was no intended message...what do you think?

All You Need is Love

Apple Inc. and Apple Corps have decided to kiss and make up. The terms of the settlement are confidential ( Apple Inc. will own all of the trademarks related to "Apple" and will license a portion of those trademarks back to Apple Corps for their continued use). Hint hint - it may be a very special Valentine’s Day for Beatles fans on iTunes.

However, if you’re in college, you might not care that Sargent Pepper’s could soon be available for “legal” download (not to mention Beatles demos, outtakes, previously unreleased songs - I'm getting goosebumps already) . Multiple studies still show that college students have no ethical issues with illegal downloading, etc. So, how do we fix this? How do we get a generation/culture to understand, stealing is not cool? Should we offer stiffer penalties, community service or jail time - can we force them to attend a Mariah Carey concert?

Seriously… can these people be saved?

What theory is operational?

There's no question that the rapid technological changes of the past decade have created armies of citizen-publishers throughout the world, and certainly divisions of those armies consider themselves citizen-journalists, whether working for or at mainstream media outlets or not.

Traditionally, there have been four theories of the press (Authoritarian, Libertarian, Communist and Social Responsibility), but the new press landscape, which defies geographic, ideological, professional and economic barriers, and in all four theories of the press overlap, seems to cry out for the invention of a "unified field" theory of the press -- or for surrender to the Libertarian theory as the only real possibility in a worldwide sea of information anarchy.

If the former, has anyone developed it, and what are its main points?
If the latter, how should we educate the public and our students so they may function in a society that relies on the free press to ensure its freedom and democratic form of government?

Media Ranks Last in recent Consumer Trust Survey: Why?

Business is more trusted than either government or media in every region of the world, according to the latest Edelman Trust Barometer, a survey of 3100 international opinion leaders.Survey results had business most credible in 13 of 18 countries.
In the U.S., business trust has increased from the prior survey, with 53% of respondants ranking business first, a comeback after lower rankings following the Enron and WorldCom criminal activities.
Prior Edelman surveys have ranked the nonprofit sector first among possible choices, followed by business, then government. Media rankings continue to be last in Edelman U.S. surveys.
Why do you think U.S. media have lower trust rankings than business or government? What issues or concerns do you think consumers have with U.S. media? How do you think U.S. media is perceived by consumers in other countries?

Advertising & Obesity

American children have been supersized indeed. As recent films (Supersize Me, Fast Food Nation) suggest, the relationship between childhood obesity and fast food marketing may be a positive correlation of cataclysmic proportions. The World Advertising Research Center reports that 16% of American children are obese (not just chubby), and food/beverage advertising has been blamed for this undesirable growth in kiddy girth.

All fast food chain advertising has been under scrutiny in recent years for one thing or another--errant health claims, price point wars, distasteful creative strategies, unfair competitive claims, just to name a few. Rarely, however, do you see kids (in TV ads anyway) gorging on burgers or stuffing faces with french fries. Indeed, the fast food nutritionists have been busy finding new kinds of cooking methods to avoid trans fats, so the fast food emphasis has been on screen-size close ups of juicy burgers or happy families eating salads with Ronald McDonald.

The Federal Trade Commission is monitoring self-regulatory guidelines to avoid corporate squealing around health issues, but most fast food brand leaders are concerned about the longterm effects of boycotts, dietary changes, and the cost of changing the food chain paradigm.

The real question--from an advertising perspective--is how influential all this advertising for burgers, fried chicken and shakes? Does a commercial lead the horse (or child) to water (unhealthy food)? Is the messenger to blame?

I've seen the future... and the future is BLUE.

The Democrats have taken control of the House. There are two Senate races that are still undecided (as I understand it - the Virginia race is a “done deal” with a Democratic win, although the final results may not come out until December). If the Democrats can pick up two more Senate seats, they will obviously control the House and the Senate. Now imagine the 2008 election – and a possible Democratic win… a Democratic President, and a House/Senate controlled by Democrats.

What does all of this mean for broadcasters? If the Democrats run the show – what kind of regulation changes might broadcasters experience? How will Democrats handle issues of indecency, fairness, and programming?

Are you ready for CDA III?

Look into your crystal ball… how will it unfold between 2007 and 2012?

Google Radio, Google Billboards... coming soon... maybe.

Rumors have been surfacing about a possible Clear Channel buyout. CNBC recently reported that the Mays family had been approached to sell their controlling stake in Clear Channel to a private equity group. Several financial experts have suggested that Google is motivated to own at least a minority stake in CC. Adding fuel to the rumor mill, Google recently hired several “sales superstars” in New York, DC, and Chicago - these cream of the crop types have specific knowledge of major market radio sales.

Is Google good for terrestrial radio? Would Google add more or less diversity (programming voices not people) to the airwaves? How might Google influence CC’s Outdoor (billboard advertisement) presence on America’s Highways? Connections… YouTube and FM radio - possibilities, predictions…?

ITube, YouTube, WeAllTube

A couple of weeks ago I posted a short piece on my Interactive Media blog about the purchase of YouTube by Google. YouTube is one of this year's rags-to-riches stories...or at least for its founders. However, the rise of YouTube has led to speculation about the future of internet video and the demise of traditional television program delivery. Some have questioned the future of Consumer Generated Media, such as YouTube, because of concern about Digital Rights Management and current abuses of copyrighted material. Others have expressed concern over a possible shift from authentically consumer-generated videos to corporate messages, network promos, and even political ads (e.g., this one by Michael J. Fox). One question is whether consumers will continue to "tune in" if and when the content appears to be manipulated by commercial or political interest groups. Would you believe that some colleges and universities are using YouTube to promote themselves? (e.g., this clip). Hah, bet you weren't expecting that were you? :-) But did you listen to the first couple of sentences of the video? That script was written a couple of years ago, and yet it remains amazingly accurate in terms of the changes that we're currently experiencing. You gotta love this business...never a boring moment!

Happy National Freedom of Speech Week

This year, National Freedom of Speech Week takes place Oct. 16-22. (See http://www.freespeechweek.org/). One way to celebrate is to reflect on what freedom of speech means to each of us.

To me, freedom of speech means the ability to find -- whether in books, on TV, in newspapers, on the radio, on the Web -- messages that can make me feel angry, courageous, cowardly, creative, encouraged, happy, inspired, shocked, sad, uneasy. It means being both amazed and bewildered by the brilliance and the stupidity of the human mind. Freedom of speech means creating learning opportunities from messages my 7-year-old daughter sees or reads that don’t make sense to her.

What does freedom of speech mean to you?

What's the future of MySpace.com?

MySpace.com is the hottest social networking site, if not the most visited Internet site, overall, these days. The site has millions of users/visitors who enjoy posting their personal profiles and using the site to visit with old friends and meet new ones.
Users talk of almost being addicted to the site, needing to visit it many times each day to see who has posted to them. Users talk of the power it brings them to express themselves in such a public way.
Is this something our high school and college aged users will eventually grow out of? Will MySpace.com grow old at some point for these users as their life experiences change?
Or will this generation of MySpace.com users continue with this level of social networking throughout their Internet life, creating a new generation of Internet users who use social networking sites to create their own special worlds?
What do you think? Why do you like or not like MySpace.com? Do you think you'll continue to visit the site as extensively after college? Are we going to have millions of senior citizens in 50 years, still networking on MySpace.com?? (you better agree to change your photo as you age...in the interest of honest communication!)
-Jen Mullen

Click Fraud: The Latest Ad Sleaze?

Well, here we go again. The advertising industry is under seige for yet another potential boondoggle--and one that Business Week (Oct 2) claims may present "the single biggest threat to the Internet's advertising gold mine." Yikes! Although this scam concern has floated around the advertising industry for the last couple of years--often focusing on the big guns like Google and Yahoo who are most vulnerable--BW has one of the best discussions of this internet plague written thus far. Read and weep, budget directors.

BW defines click fraud as "clicking on internet advertising solely to generate illegitimate revenue for the web site carrying the ads; those doing the clicking typically also get paid." Professional revenue thieves have been around for centuries, but there are few merry men looking after these Robin Hoods. Advertisers and marketers, who pay per click for their use of these webnets, are losing millions report both BW and Advertising Age.

Okay, the robbery system has it's legal, financial and pragmatic impacts, but there is the sociopolitical issue of advertising's industrywide problem of controlling the bad apples in their barrel too. How do we stop the bleeding? Do we need more laws? More passwords? Fewer entry points to the system? Better fraud detecting software that can't be breached by every 12-year-old hacker in the country? And why do we want to demonize both advertising and the internet delivery system anyway?

I guess because we can.