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The real pandemic: media hype

There’s no cure. There’s no vaccination. There are no protective measures—short of unplugging.

I’ve been asked by my clients why the media is in a feeding frenzy over COVID-19 and it all boils down to click bait. Editors are crafting tittilating headlines and updates to get you to click on a tweet that takes you to their website. It’s all about social media hits, web traffic and trending topics—editorial judgement be damned.

And it all starts at the top—networks and legacy journalism platforms are feeding the fever. This morning the first 15 minutes of the network news was pandemic centered, and in broadcast news 15 minutes is an eternity. Then it trickles down to local media outlets who are scouring their markets for people related to those in quarantine, residents cancelling cruises, businesses grounding their workforce, and schools shutting down.

Why? A few reasons:

Consumers have a 140-character attention span. If a news story requires you to invest time to read, understand, and contemplate content, it won’t make the editorial cut. A school referendum will have more long-range consequences for a community, but tax levies can be complicated and few reporters have the creativity to actually tell a story (Storytelling: the new buzz of 2020 that’s actually been around for decades in newsrooms). It’s easier to click on a headline about cancelling cruises than read about how schools are funded.
Fear is sexy. When media outlets leave with you with more questions than answers, you will access their platforms more frequently to stay updated.
Editorial judgement has been replaced by trending stories. Editorial judgment means experienced journalists would consider all the issues on any one day, then select those that had the biggest impact on their audience, the potential for future impact, or topics that were unusual (read “man bites dog). Now, content editors first check social media for trending topics and use that to guide how stories are selected and which ones get the most play. The social media habits of people clicking on the Kardashians are influencing what is “news” in our local communities.

I would never advocate ignoring social platforms as communications channels—they are here to stay just as TV was in the 1950s. But somewhere in this frenzy perhaps objective reporting could give us a wider perspective. Perhaps editorial staffs could remember that citizens learn little if all media does is parrot the flavor of the day.

Perhaps the best news out of this issue is the federal government may delay April 15 tax filings. Think that’ll make the Twitter feed?

Copy. Paste. Now your info is mine.

So what do you do when a competitor uses your proprietary information?

Usually, I would tell a client to make sure information has a copyright © sign or they contact their attorneys. However, today everyone’s a publisher thanks to WordPress and everyone’s a journalist thanks to the internet. So “garage journalists” who don’t give a hoot about objectivity, attributing information to sources or vetting the facts will easily copy and paste your proprietary info into their blogs, Facebook pages or tweets.

Recently, we discussed exactly this situation at a business training program with entrepreneurs who have been in business 5-10 years. One businessman (we’ll call him Larry) publishes his own industry information and a competitor has been “borrowing” it liberally for his business without attributing it. Larry’s customers depend on his information and look forward to it in his emails and newsletters. Being a direct guy, Larry has personally asked the guy to stop taking his info.

Does he call a lawyer?

Perhaps. But our solution was to inform his customers and social networks of the situation and have the network get to work. Larry’s customers are fiercely loyal to him—because they are so deeply involved in his lifestyle, products and services they are likely to take this action personally. Larry’s a hard-working guy who lives and breathes his business—his passion attracts equally passionate customers.

You can do everything to protect your information, but often the best weapon is an engaged and committed customer base. Remember to involve your customer in your personal story so they become as dedicated to your product/business as you are. Get your customer involved by regularly communicating with them, presenting a compelling story and providing information that matters to their lifestyles.

I can’t wait to see what happens when his fans find out an interloper is falsely trading on Larry’s sweat-equity.

If you’re interested, find me at mkathrynschmidt@gmail.com.

What does that “www” thing mean?

Hi, my name is Mary and I’m addicted to social media. The first step toward recovery is to admit your problem and I should have seen this coming about 100 posts ago. At least once a week someone tells me social media is a pointless waste of time. Some clients can’t imagine why anyone would spend time on a screen. Spousal Unit moaned in disgust when he found out I was taking pictures of myself and posting them to Facebook and Twitter to stave off boredom in the deer stand during a hunting season. Now, my hunting posts on Facebook are eagerly anticipated by clients and friends alike. Here’s what I have to say to them.

My 75-year old father has a Facebook page. That either makes him a hip adaptor or it makes Facebook terminally un-cool, but you can’t ignore it.

I’m showing my age, but as a TV reporter in the 80s, we laughed at the idea of 24-hour news on a cable network. What would they cover? In the early days of the internet, employers and clients told me no one would ever get product information on a screen much less write and send letters over a computer.

The idea behind social media is to connect, participate, discuss. No restrictions and opinions interpreted as news. Is it perfect? Nothing is perfect and I’ve found that people who make questionable decisions in other parts of their lives will do the same thing on social media. But like they say, you can pick your friends.