PR vs. Journalism (Mac/PC Spoof)

There’s a great Youtube video produced for the PRSA National Capital Chapter’s 2007 Annual Thoth Awards Gala, with PR and Journalism playing the roles of PC and Mac from the Apple ads. [Keep watching through some longish pauses...]

Media Predicts Panel Highlights

Podtech.net filmed the entire panel and plans to post it to their site in the coming days. And you can click on the links below to see what some other people had to say about the panel presentation. But here’s a recap of my notes:

• Kara Swisher: everyone is going to have an online presence — that will just be part of life; I haven’t read a newspaper [in print form] in years; the big story in 2008 will be the recession
• Don Clark: virtualization is coming to the desktop
• Kara’s quote of the night: “How is Yahoo going to get up off its sorry ass?” She added that she didn’t mean the company didn’t have millions of users and lots of great services, but that it didn’t seem to have a lot of excitement and momentum surrounding it
• Jim Goldman: yes there will be a U.S. recession, but not necessarily a global one, and so the effect on Silicon Valley may be limited, since 75% of sales are now coming from outside the U.S.
• Don: yes, but will the U.S. malaise spread to other economies?
• Victoria Barret: regarding Silicon Valley’s role in developing cleantech: we’ll save the world if we can do it profitably

2008-specific predictions:

• Robert Scoble: publishing video directly from cell phone to web
• Don Clark: some Second Life companies will go away
• Jim Goldman: Yahoo gets acquired or takes a significant investment from Abu Dhabi
• Victoria Barret: lots of acquisitions and consolidation
• Rob Hof: if the credit crunch continues, it will spread to tech and more tech companies will go into the dead pool
• Kara Swisher: Increased political grandstanding in this election year about online privacy issues, online pedophilia

What do your viewers/readers care about?

• Jim Goldman: people who watch our network want to know what’s happening with your companies as early as possible
• Victoria: visually arresting, counter-intuitive stories. We are interested in stories with at least 2 of the following: conflict, drama and struggle

[Posted by Jon Greer, PRSA Silicon Valley board member]

Media Predicts: Video About 2007

Here’s a video we showed at last night’s event starring our media panelists talking about what has been happening in technology in 2007, as a prelude to their live panel discussion about 2008.

Pictures From Media Predicts Event

Brian Solis has posted pictures from last night on Flickr. Check ‘em out here.

Links to Last Night’s Event

Links are starting to flow in to items about last night’s great Media Predicts event. We’ll have much more stuff to post as the day progresses, but here’s a start:

• Kara Swisher — Kara Visits the PRSA Silicon Valley Dinner
• Louis Gray — Silicon Valley Media Notables Divide “Hot” From “Not”

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Updated: more blog posts rolling in:

• Christopher Kenton: Oh, The Predictions
• EngagePR: Last Night’s Diner
• Sam Whitmore: Last Night’s Panel
• Tom Foremski: Hacks and Flacks Gather…
• The Horn Group:  Top Media Share Predictions

Media Predicts 08 Tonight!

We’ve got our big event of the year tonight and it’s a doozie: Media Predicts 2008: What’s Hot and What’s Not in 2008.

Our panelists include:

• Kara Swisher, Co-Executive Editor, D:All Things Digital Blog and Conference
• Rob Hof, Silicon Valley Bureau Chief, BusinessWeek
• Jim Goldman, Silicon Valley Bureau Chief, CNBC
• Victoria Murphy Barret, Associate Editor, Forbes
• Robert Scoble, Blogger and Technology Columnist for Fast Company
• Jon Swartz, Technology Reporter, USA Today
• Don Clark, Deputy SF Bureau Chief, Wall Street Journal
• Ann Winblad, Partner, Hummer Winblad (moderator)

MC: Sam Whitmore, Sam Whitmore’s Media Survey

It will be at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. It’s sold out, so if you don’t have a ticket, check back here for updates on the event!

Online Ethics Panel Agenda

Here is an online version of our agenda for the panel. Unlike the paper version handed out at the event, this one includes links to many of the subjects covered during the workshop.

PRSA Ethics Workshop: October 30, 2007

Moderator:

Jerry Ceppos, Fellow in Media Ethics at Santa Clara University’s Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, former VP of News for Knight-Ridder Inc. and former Executive Editor, SJ Mercury News

Speakers:

Tom Formeski, Editor, SiliconValleyWatcher.com

Jon Greer, Media Spokesperson Trainer and Editor, 21stCenturyMediaRelations.com

Joel Postman, EVP Emerging Media, Eastwick Communications

Agenda:
8 – 8:15 Introductions of panel and attendees
8:15 – 8:35 Panelists comment on current online media and PR ethical issues
8:35 – 9:10 Online ethics hypothetical case studies (Panel and Attendees)
9:10 – 9:30 Q&A and discussion

Some of the Ethical Issues Facing Online Journalists and PR Professionals

• Transparency (or lack thereof)

o Who are you?
o Who is your main employer? Who else might be paying you?
o What conflicts of interest do you have?

• Exchanges of Value: When is it appropriate (or inappropriate) to provide (or accept) something of value, such as:

Goods or services, Free meals, Money

• Who are you, Part 2

o “Media”

• Employee of traditional media producing mostly pre-Internet content?
• Employee of traditional media producing Internet content?
• Professional blogger (i.e., someone trying to make a primary living from blogging)?
• Commercial blogger (i.e, someone blogging in their work capacity but not specifically to get paid to produce content)?
• Amateur blogger?

o “Promoter”

• PR rep for a corporation?
• PR agency employee?
• Third-party endorser?
• Amateur enthusiast?

• What ethical standards should you follow?

o Traditional media

o PR/PRSA Code of Ethics

PRSA Code of Ethics

Ogilvy PR’s Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics

o Attempts at online/blogger codes of ethics

Poynter Institute

USC Annenberg School of Communications

CyberJournalist.net

• What are our ethical responsibilities in this changing environment?

o Try to follow existing ethical guidelines
o Develop new ethical guidelines
o Continue to serve our bosses, clients, readers, customers, other constituents

Examples of Online Ethical Issues

• Wal-Marting Across America
• LonelyGirl15
• Nikon/MWW Camera Giveaway/Loaner Program
• Free meals for Yelpers and other online restaurant critics
• Sony PSP fake blog
• Professional bloggers writing about their sponsors
• Professional bloggers taking endorsement money (Federated Media/Microsoft program)
• Pay Per Post
• Commenting on stories about you or your client using a screen name
• Editing your Wikipedia entry (and having your edits tracked by WikiScanner)
• Newsvine: Seeding “astroturf” content

Tomorrow: Online Ethics Panel

The workshop on online ethics is tomorrow. Here’s the announcement:

Navigating Uncharted Waters: How The Internet is Changing PR and Media Ethics

Tuesday,  October 30 , 2007 | 8:00 – 9:30 am
Cooley Godward Kronish 3175 Hanover Street, Palo Alto

The rise of bloggers and other Internet-based social media, are roiling both the PR industry and the media. In the process, new ethical questions are emerging regarding how the Internet is changing the traditional roles of both journalists and PR professionals. Do online journalists adhere to the same ethical standards as their colleagues in traditional media? Do PR professionals have heightened ethical obligations when communicating directly with the public through blogs and other social media? What standards are emerging and which are still open for debate? We will hear from a panel of media and PR experts and probe ethical issues through real-world case studies.

Confirmed panelists:
Jerry Ceppos, former Executive Editor, SJ Mercury News; currently a fellow in media ethics at Santa Clara University’s Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.
Tom Formeski, editor, SiliconValleyWatcher.com
Jon Greer, media trainer and editor, 21stCenturyMediaRelations.com
Joel Postman, EVP, Eastwick Communications

This session is being offered at no cost to chapter members and $15 for nonmembers.

Click here to register: http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaID=141011

What is this blog?

This is the blog of the PRSA Silicon Valley chapter. We’ll use it to comment on PR issues and to post links to relevant information.

The impetus for starting the blog was to be able to post links to online ethics issues that we’re discussing at our annual ethics workshop, happening this Tuesday, Oct. 30. Here’s a link to everything you need to know: http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaID=141011