What will happen when your local TV Station & Newspaper are Gone?

March 26, 2009 at 8:30 am · Filed under CBC, CPB, FASTforward'09, NPR, News, PBS, Platforms, Public Media, Public Radio, Public TV, TV

We are surely entering a new reality? The discussion of the “Deathwalk” of papers and TV Stations has until now been academic but now hardly a week passes when a city or town loses one or the other.

What will happen in your town when there is no more “Official News”?

Of course I don’t know but it may be fun to speculate. A good way to speculate I think is to think of nature. What does nature do when an over mature system crashes? When say a big tree falls or there is a forest fire?

Nature has a iron-clad set of rules for the death of an over mature system. The rule seems to be – the small and the fast growing fills in the space. In phase 2, the trees that can get height fast and shade out the rest come next. In phase 3 the slow growing larger trees push by aggregate and then dominate. And then the cycle continues.

So if this pattern is reliable then this is what will happen when your community loses its Big News.

• The Fast Growing New Growth  the “Poplars” – The best of the local bloggers will rise in prominence. Some of the personal brands in the old will also join the local blogging scene. These bloggers will not only write about what interests them but some will pull in and filter news from around the world. They will act as much as taste makers and editors as contributors. But many will also wish to focus on what interests them – “Beats” in effect. Food, politics, books, whatever. The new system is largely here but it has low structure and hence low value.

• Aggregation – Very quickly some of these will form an affiliation. We have seen an early variant of this in St Louis with the establishment of the Beacon. The Beacon is an online “News” service made up of many of the best journalists that used to work for the main Paper the Post Dispatch. The Beacon has moved into the offices of KETC, the PBS local TV station. (Postscipt – Here is a major article by The Current – the Trade Magazine of Pub Media on this work) There are plans for KWMU, the local NPR radio station and the local University to move in too. A great addition will be to find a way to pull in the best of the bloggers. This has not yet been done but is surely possible and desirable. Also on the cards will be the power of this local system to pull in great national and international coverage. CPB, NPR and PBS are working on how best to create and offer a combined feed of the best of their News in one easy to use complete forum. As this aggregation phase builds so does the overall value to all parties in it. The Network Effect benefits all. Costs fall, ROI rises. It becomes central to the economic, social and political health of the community. Being so widespread it excludes competitors. You either have to join or die. It is also hugely valuable to the global producers and to the global aggregators. At some point, NPR and PBS and maybe the BBC also have to form their own aggregated system that lives on top of the local system?

• Climax – I think that the climax or mature and stable phase will emerge from the Aggregation process. This is surely what Sloan did for GM? GM in its heyday was built on the aggregation of a number of brands.  But this time, there is a different economic model. This was not the result of a traditional use of financial capital. Now we have a global system that is truly PUBLIC. It has strong economic roots and is sustainable but it is no longer controlled by a few men with access to credit. It would be very hard to attack by any political force as well.

If I am right and that nature does offer us a model, then the Aggregation phase is where the future lies. The people that can lead the aggregation will “win”. If we can do this in the Public sector then the Public will win.

So where will this happen in your community?

In the US I think that St Louis offers us a strong hint. Journalists, Public TV and Radio can get together to offer a home for the rest of the local blogging ecosystem. They can also pull in national and global content and offer up stories from their own place. I think that the current talks between CPB, NPR and PBS are also very encouraging.

But what about Canada? Would the local music station be the aggregator? How easy/hard would it be for a few bloggers to do this – hard I think. We don’t have the emergent local system that the US has. This tells me that the urgency in the US to “see” their total public system for what it is – the future – is extreme.

It’s all there to win or lose.

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The Vivian Schiller Vision for Public Media – Plus Flesh on the Bones

March 6, 2009 at 11:31 am · Filed under CPB, NPR, PBS, Public Media, Public Radio, Public TV

It is now clear that media as we have known it may die before the end of 2010. It is not only newspapers with over borrowed owners and dwindling ad revenues, but TV networks with the same fatal structural flaws. Public Radio and TV are also at risk with states and universities cutting back funding and with shrinking public and underwriting support.

What kind of media if any will we have left by 2011?

I think that Vivian Schiller, (Here is a short video that has her views in a nutshell) the new CEO of NPR is offering a realistic vision for what can emerge.  I want to take the key ideas that she has been talking about in a number of public venues and add more flesh and supporting ideas from others in the system that I respect

Here are what I have heard as her key points starting with two areas to avoid:

• That there is no silver bullet – such as get a big grant to support us as we are – she can see that as we are, we are not viable

• That finding the new minority niche is the holy grail – instead improve access for she feels that if we serve properly then all will be served by our content and by our connection – that the young, that minorities will find us and be involved if we are truly engaging and offer the access that meets their needs

Her big idea is a really really big tent that is a true network that uses all the power of a true network.

• The Uber News Network – The future of public media is to be found in a true network that comprises NPR, the Stations, PBS, The Citizens who live in the local communities and others who wish to serve the local community that may include the newspaper or the journalists who used to work at the local newspaper such as The Beacon in St Louis.

• That all involved have to see themselves as being more than broadcasters and to see themselves as widely serving the community – that we move beyond content to connection.

• That NPR goes out and works to help the stations.

• That we build all of this on the deep foundation of good will that exists.

I want to expand on this idea with supporting ideas from other people that have the respect of the system – for part of Vivian Schiller’s brilliance is that she is an exceptional listener and has been ingesting the thoughts and the mood of the system.

The Uber News Network

The Opportunity – By 2011, it is likely that much of the media of today will be gone. Many communities will be without a paper or a local TV station. If things continue the way that they are, the economy may be far worse and much of the effort to save us all will be seen as having failed. The nation will be starved for meaning.

Today, only a few parts of the media are offering Meaning to America and indeed to the world. It is a remarkable achievement that Planet Money is cited by both the Senate and by the Secretary of the Treasury as the ideal place to find language and an approach that makes the crisis possible to understand. The NewsHour is doing the same kind of work as is Bill Moyers.

This is not gotcha journalism. This is meaning making and it is almost exclusively available on Public Radio, TV and now the web.Now all the key content is available at at any time on the web. It would be a simple matter to curate a local page that would have every news source in one easy to find place.

More. Public Insight journalism is growing and the expertise of the community is being brought into the mix. More, on Planet Money, that had learned to connect to an audience in its proto version, BPP, a huge amount of material comes in from a passionate group of supporters.

Imagine then a system that had it all. Global, National, Regional and Hyper Local – Pro Journalist and expert blogger – all working together to give us the help is finding meaning in these mysterious and frightening times?

Vivian Schiller’s big idea is to fill this void of meaning by bringing all of this power to make meaning together.  Her big idea is to create so much value that the system gets supported for this.

Moving beyond content to connection – from Audience to Tribe

As the institutions that we all took for granted die, so many of us then will risk losing our identity. Identity is all about our “Tribe”. Our Tribe is often our job and workplace. It can be a sports team. It can be our family. Our identity comes from these connections. In our true tribal past, expulsion from the tribe is the extreme punishment. It is still so today.

As people lose jobs and roles, the search for identity will become the most powerful force in society.

In these terrible times many want to belong and find identity in helping make their community and America well again. These longings are already held in the existing Public Radio and TV “Tribe” For Public radio is itself a huge tribe. Here is how Schiller sees this “Tribe”:

It was the beginning of November and it got a bit of coverage on NPR obviously, and the New York Times and several other places. And I heard from just about everybody I’ve ever known and I got a lot of voice mails and over a thousand e-mails from people I’ve known through various stages of my career because I’ve moved around a little bit. And first of all, it was very nice of course, and I spent my month off in December answering every one of those e-mails.

But as I read through them, something really profound struck me. Which is they were all the same. In the sense that, the first sentence of every e-mail would be something like “Oh congratulations, we’re happy for you and blah blah blah…” and from the second sentence and through the rest of every single e-mail, was an expression of what NPR (and when they say NPR they could be listening to a show from PRI, APM, from their local broadcaster – they really mean public radio, so please understand that I interpret it that way) but what NPR means to them. And it was always very, very personal. It was a show they plan their commute around, or it was a story that touched them and actually motivated them to action, or it was a reporter or anchor that they feel a natural obsession with… but whatever it was, it was very intimate. And there was almost a sense for each one that NPR is MINE. For each of these e-mailers, NPR is mine. It belongs to me.

And I realized that what we have that is so extraordinary is a relationship with our audience – (and it’s a huge audience – I’ll mention that in a minute) that has a relationship with us that’s not just on an intellectual level (as it certainly is) but also on a very emotional level. And that is a powerful thing. I know of no other media company that has that connection in the head and the heart that public radio does. And by the way – in huge numbers. 26 million people tune in to some NPR program – through of course their local station – on a weekly level. That is more than the circulation of the top 50 US newspapers combined. That’s a lot of people.

Just to give you a couple more statistics about what an impact we have – and this is where that carnival barker thing comes in, so forgive me – Morning Edition has a larger audience than any of the network morning shows. The next biggest one is The Today Show and our audience is 45% bigger than Today viewing. Car Talk (and we’re not just serious stuff so I’m going to compare Car Talk to less serious stuff) is twice as big as The Daily Show and The Colbert Report combined. That’s pretty powerful and it’s growing. So there’s audience. Brand is the second thing. With the possible exception of the New York Times, I know of no other media company that evokes the same kind of loyalty that NPR does as an entity. There are certainly forms of other branded media that have larger audiences – Facebook has 175 million active users which is a mind-blowing number but I don’t think anybody goes “God, I love Facebook” they love their connection to other people. It’s not an affinity for the brand.

And in other broadcast media, it’s the shows. The most successful television show in the history of broadcast news is 60 Minutes. And there’s a lot of loyalty to 60 Minutes, but that’s not helped CBS with their other shows necessarily. People don’t think about CBS they think about 60 Minutes. NBC’s successful morning and evening shows have loyal audiences – smaller as I’ve already mentioned – but that hasn’t been much help to their primetime lineup, which has been in fourth place for years. So the loyalty there is to shows. With us, the loyalty is to the brand, which is very powerful.

There is huge potential power here – not just for more pledges but for something bigger. It is in this Tribe that the value resides that can take public radio and TV to the next level.

This tribe can be expanded way beyond the current Tribe – all the groups that Public radio have wanted to serve, the young, minorities etc can find their place in the Tribe that wants to work to make America and their community well again.

We can see this expansion and deepening of the tribe in the CPB sponsored work in St Louis – where KETC is acting as the connector between the helping agencies and the people who need help. Many of the people involved had not been part of the tribe before but are now. CPB are now funding a 30 station expansion of this work where TV and Radio stations will work to help their communities help themselves.

The person who I think gets this better than anyone I know is John Proffitt who works in Anchorage. Here is his current view on the shift to seeing our work as supporting Tribe and Identity.  Here are 2 key slides that I hope make his ideas more clear:

I think that Vivian Schiller, and people like John Proffitt, intuitively see the power of Public Media to give people an identity when all might seem too confusing or lost.

As a Facilitator of Tribes – Public Media truly serves the public and gives the community back its power. What greater act of public service could there be?

This is what Jessica Clark means when she looks to go beyond broadcasting and what Lee Rainie sees as the power of social media.

Building the Network

Vivian Schiller is clear – she knows that most stations are hanging on by their fingernails. To make any of this happen demands that there is catalytic help. She suggests that NPR staff can and should offer this help.

Without help – I fear that this will remain just a few good ideas. The stations are getting locked down in fear and have to be helped.

But I think we can do more than offer help from a few NPR folks.

In the 1930’s Roosevelt set up great public works to give people a wage and their dignity back. The backbone of the nation’s infrastructure was built then.

I think that the New Public Media system can be the Hoover Dam of our time!

Already the unemployed and the under employed geeks are mobilizing and looking for work and identity. Here is a link to Laid Off Camp – a nation wide effort to make connections in the Geek Community.

It is not only citizen journalists that the new network can rely on. It is not only citizen groups that we can rely on. My bet is that the right call will mobilize the Geeks of America to help build the new network.

If we called, the people would come. They would come and they would become us. The separation of audience and station would melt away.

What Next?

How to get started? Public Radio and TV are not a monolith. Like Republican Rome, the culture and structure make it hard to take action. In fact it is almost impossible to get collective action. In the last few weeks I have talk with several friends – all long for someone to take the lead.

In my reading of the runes, along with Tom Thomas of SRG and Mark Fuerst of IMA I think that enough people are ready. I think that Vivian Schiller has correctly sensed the vision and the plan.

If you also listen to Pat Harrison of CPB and to Paula Kerger of PBS – you feel an alignment. They too have been saying many of these things.

All are reluctant to step forward. After all in the past, such leadership would be punished. This was not herding cats this was herding lions! But I think that this will not be the case today.

I think that the lead has to come from the top. I feel that if NPR, PBS and CPB got together and announced that they were behind an approach like this, that enough would say yes to form the core group and to get the work begun.

When Rome was confronted with a major crisis – they gave up their complex system of checks and balances and accepted direct leadership. I think that the system is ready for this and that it trusts the leaders of NPR, PBS and CPB to do what is best.

If not this – then what?

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Using Social Media to help in the Mortgage Crisis – KETC and CPB run an experiment – Part 1 – Context for action

July 2, 2008 at 6:13 am · Filed under CPB, Google, KETC, KPBS, Ning, PBS, Politics, Public Media, Public TV, Relationships, Social Media, Social Networking, Social Objects, TV, Trust, Trusted Space, User Revolution, Video, Web 2.0, YouTube

As my regular readers know, (More Context in the link) I am working with KETC, Channel 9 in St Louis on a project funded by CPB, to see how a Public TV station could use its position as a Trusted Space, rather than simply as a broadcaster, to make a difference in the “economic forest fire” that is the mortgage/housing /credit crisis that is sweeping through America.

It is the hope of CPB that Public Media can do more to serve its country than offer great content alone. It is our collective hope that by learning how to do what we are doing now well, that Public TV and Radio can serve the public by acting as a convener of Trust for the community – so that we can draw on the great and latent power that resides in all local communities to take action themselves to solve the great problems that confront us.

Our hope is that our one station in one city can offer enough experience that in the fall many more can join in the work and that soon we may have a national effort underway.

Here is an update as to how we are starting this work.

First of all – we had to settle on what could be our objective? What could we do that was both possible and legitimate to help? What was the “problem that could be solved and what did we really bring to the table?

What we hear is going on that can be remedied is this. Many people can be helped to stay in their homes. BUT to be helped, they have to act very quickly. Days make a difference. The barriers to these people getting the help that will save their home are these:

* They don’t know where the safe help is. They are surrounded by sharks waiting to feed off them
* They are often frozen by shame and fear.

We can connect them to help that they can trust. We can use our power as story tellers to help break through the shame barrier – we can show that they are not alone and that there is hope. We have decided that we can and that we have to be the “Connector” – connect people that can be helped to the help that can be trusted. We have to connect the help to the help, so that it can be more powerful.

So for those who can be helped, maybe 30% of the total, the issue is Trust. They have to know who they can trust in a situation where they have had all their trust in financial advice destroyed.

So one of our aims is to “reveal” the Nodes of Trust in St Louis. To reveal the hidden network of help. To reveal this network not only to those who need it but to those that who are part of this network of help and trust. We are going to use who we are – the most trusted organization in the City – to use our power of media to reveal a hidden part of our city – the network of Nodes of Trust that exist in St Louis. Over the last 2 weeks we have been convening meetings in our studios of the leaders of these organizations. Many of these people had never met before.

We are going to do our best to connect these people enough to each other that the latent power of this network of Trust becomes manifest and real.

View Larger Map

Just as KPBS used Google Maps to show the extent and the nature of both the fire and the help – so we plan to do the same. With by the way the active help of KPBS and Google Maps. This is our first shot.

Our hope is that the community will help us produce the definitive map of “help” and “Trust” in St Louis. Our hunch is that each community has a map of trust – the Bosnians, the African Americans, the Hispanics etc. Our hunch is that these Nodes of Trust are even more local and less obvious than the ones we start with – they surely include churches, beauty salons, cafes etc. These Nodes of Trust are real. They exist. They are just for now outside of our vision. If we can reveal them and connect them – then what? What can St Louis really do when the full power of this resource is realized?

Surely every city has this latent network of Trust and local power that can be activated and enhanced by a crisis and by a convener who has no ax to grind?

So much of this work is different from Broadcasting – we are drawing on the years of experience in the station of outreach and on our position in the city as being part of the community to work face to face with those who can help to enhance their efforts. Our key local partner in this is the United Way who run a funnel into the network of help via their 21 number.

But even with help available, what about the issues of fear and shame that block people from seeking help?

Here we use our power as story tellers. Fear and shame can be overcome, if we can see that we are not alone and that forces beyond us have been and are in play. Here video and TV have an unparalleled power to tell story and to connect. Here is a link to our YouTube Channel where we will have many many many stories. We will be broadcasting interstitials (one minute items), 6 minute items and long format shows. All that we broadcast will be put up on our blog, on YouTube and Facebook

Is the problem just about people losing their homes? No!

We are starting to see that the real problem is the ripple effect of people losing their homes on the entire fabric of America. As vacant houses destroy the value of the rest of the street, as ruined streets destroy a community, as ruined communities destroy a city, as ruined cities destroy the state – we see that this is like the flood in New Orleans. Cities and then states become socially and then economically gutted.

The tragedy is greater than the loss of a home and the dream for a family. This is a cancer that threatens the nation. As such, being self righteous and blaming others and thinking that the pain can be limited to to the guilty, is to be short sighted.

We have to be the story teller about “The Ripple Effect”. Many think that they are OK. Many think that we should do nothing to help the stupid and the ill informed.

But we are learning that such an attitude is like blaming people who have typhoid. There is a “dis-ease” spreading. The impact of this crisis on the few will affect the many. We cannot stand by and think that we will be OK. This is like America in WWII. For what happens in the “other neighborhood is going to affect us and the whole world. So as Ed Murrow, the spiritual father of Public Service as a broadcaster, told the larger story of the war from the Blitz in London, so we at KETC have to tell the story of the larger Ripple Effect of the housing crisis on our city and state.

Again – here we use our TV channel and all the power of social media. Here we also convene meetings with people who don’t normally meet and we are asking them to work together to understand the full risk and power of the Ripple Effect.

Here we give our voice on TV and on the Beacon to others such as Senator MacAskill to speak to the challenge that confronts us all.

“People are making assumptions that just certain kinds of people are in this position,” McCaskill said. “I think that people’s stereotypes kick in. I don’t think they realize that these distressed homes and families are all over the St. Louis area. From Chesterfield to South County to Warren County and St. Charles, there are homes facing foreclosure.”

McCaskill said the impact of the foreclosure crisis — which analysts predict could reach 3 million nationally — goes well beyond individual homeowners and is undermining the strength of the U.S. economy.

“There is this ripple effect that foreclosures have on the economy that we are focused on. This isn’t about a bailout for any individual. This is about what’s best for our economy so we don’t fall off the table into a full-blown depression,” she said.

“It’s hard for people because they’re used to operating within their lane. Can I pay my bills? And if I can pay my bills, why are we helping anybody who can’t pay their bills? This is not about staying in your lane. This is about our overall economic strength right now as a nation and the things we can do that help the credit markets stabilize, that help the dollar strengthen, that cut out some of the speculation in oil. All of those things need to happen, and this housing bill is just one part of that.”

“What you don’t see in this room are the thousands and thousands and thousands of people who are just like you,” she said to the homeowners in the assemblage. “We estimate up to 20,000 homes in Missouri will face foreclosure before the end of next year. So, imagine if we had 20,000 people in this room what it would look like. You are not in this alone. There are thousands and thousands and thousands of others out there that have the same kind of challenges.”

This is a very long post. I don’t know how to compress our story while it is still being written.

I will post shortly about how we are “Managing” this process – by using social media and total project transparency – but I have a request first.

We need help. In particular we need help from bloggers in St Louis. I know you are out there. You are surely also part of the Nodes of Trust in St Louis. You too are the unseen network of trust in the city. Please some of you contact me so that you too can become visible and that you too can help your city and your state in this time of great need.

So this then is the context for our work.

We are going full tilt to the end of August to learn how to connect people to help. To learn how to help the help become connected so that they can offer more and better help. To learn how to tell the bigger story of the Ripple effect so that those with the power to help at this level can also locate their power and apply it. To be the beta test site for public media so that we can extend this work nationally.

At the end of his speech to congress after Pearl Harbor, Franklin Roosevelt said this:

With confidence in our armed forces—with the unbounding determination of our people—we will gain the inevitable triumph—so help us God.

Maybe we can modify this call to hope and to the determination of the people and say:

With confidence in our communities—with the unbounding determination of our people—we will gain the inevitable triumph—so help us God.

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PBS and iTunes – It’s Happening!!!!!

April 14, 2008 at 3:54 pm · Filed under Apple, PBS, Public Media, Public TV, iTunes

It’s happening – Bits now but I bet soon the real deal. Here is the announcement on Apple’s site. iTunes is a natural for PBS programming. Worried about loss to stations – use this as the place to go a month later after the broadcast.

Enjoy PBS programming on iTunes U
From The War: A film by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick to The Jewish Americans: A Series by David Grubin to Meet the Author, featuring more than 40 interviews with top children’s book authors and illustrators, WETA — Washington D.C.’s Public Broadcasting Station — delivers a rich assortment of educational programming for students, teachers, and parents alike. And they’re not alone. Educational programming from four other PBS stations, including KQED, WGBH, thirteen, and ideastream can also be seen and heard on iTunes U. Take a look. And enjoy.

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A Meaning for the Yahoo bid by MSFT

February 2, 2008 at 6:59 am · Filed under Apple, Barriers, Business Model, Enterprise 2.0, Microsoft, NPR, PBS, Podcasts, Public Media, Relationships, iTouch, iTunes

As sure as the sun rises in the morning – the web will become the primary delivery platform for all information.

Many in public radio and TV, have told me that my feelings about how fast the shift would take place from “air” and cable to web are exagerated. My argument is this. “Weight of money”.

When you pay $45 billion dollars you are not fooling around.

MSFT wish to get ready NOW for this new reality for when the bulk of advertising revenue and action are on the web. Ad revenues are $50 billion right now and are expected to rise to $80 billion by 2009/10. This is the prize. When the ad money shifts out of traditional media, you will hear the sucking sound of a mortal wound. It will be too late to reinvent your self then.

All the supporting parts of a web based radio and TV will have to accelerate their plans

• The viewing platforms such as the iPods and the large screen TV’s are ready now for a direct link. The Early Adopters are watching the bulk of their video online.
• Many listen to radio online at the office or on their iPods on their commute
• YouTube is bursting with great content both from traditional sources and from new entrants
• Channels such as iTunes and Miro are building capacity – it will be the ease of use that these channels offer that will pull in the Early Majority.
• Major Networks have their toe in the water and are offering some content online

The Yahoo bid will accelerate all this work.

So what is the work that Public TV and Radio have to do in this context of no time? It is to solve the business model problem. How to offer the best content from TV and Radio AND keep the stations whole. How to do that? I think the answer is to make the offer direct with the forced choice of the show and the station.

I am not saying that people will not listen to radio nor am I saying that people will stop watching TV. People will still buy SUV’s and Trucks. But the bulk of the people, especially people who are naturally curious will make the switch.

Remember Mikey – “Give it to Mikey – he hates everything. Well my wife Robin, is the tech Mikey.

Robin is very very resistant to gadgets. BUT …….. She now listens to all her radio online – loading the podcasts onto her MP3 player which she uses when she is doing stuff around the house and walking the dogs. And in her down time, I hardly ever see her anymore – she has discovered YouTube. She has discovered that it is packed with content that she wants to watch – content that is “serious” that is just what a good Public TV member would want to watch. She has discovered that it is easy to watch and listen to what she wants when she wants and that there is tons and tons of great content out there.

She is closer to 60 than 50 and is in the centre of the demographic for Public TV.

So Robin’s desire for interesting content that intrigues her has been met already. Just imagine how easy it will be for her to have access to even more and what her choices will be soon.

Don’t you want her and the millions like her as your audience?

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