Monday, February 21, 2011
JML Welcomes ...
Eloise Gibson to the team. She’s blonde, she’s sassy and she means business! Eloise has previously worked as an environment and science reporter at the NZ Herald as well as an environmental and planning lawyer in NZ and London. Her favourite thing about JML so far (apart from the sunny stroll to work from her Symonds St apartment) is meeting JML’s different clients and learning how she can share and support their plans and activities. Eloise will be working with a range of JML clients across energy, technology and corporate services. Check out her mention in this week’s National Business Review: http://bit.ly/fHH57N.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Can journalism survive the digital revolution?
Almost 2,000 communication professionals from 46 European countries predict that press and media relations will develop predominantly into online media by 2013.
Already over one million people own an iPad and messages can be sent around the world in a matter of seconds. Inevitably predictions show that traditional press will become redundant as fast-moving messages and news can be sent across the interweb cheaply and instantly.
Paid newspapers are being taken over by their free online editions and journalists are bearing the brunt of change. The Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism, states that in America, 2,400 full-time professional newsroom jobs disappeared in 2007, and 5,900 more were lost in 2008.
Since the rise of the internet over 50 million blogs have appeared, documenting news, events and opinions. The majority of these blogs are written by everyday people rather than by paid journalists, many publishing news before it even makes its way to the newsroom.
So will quality journalism be taken over by the everyday joe blogger in this internet age?
Maybe not. Media tycoon, Rupert Murdoch in a recent interview stated “We are moving from newspapers to news brands.” While he acknowledged newspaper subscriptions were decreasing and online editions growing, he suggested the public would be more drawn to trustworthy news brands that would deliver quality information from trained journalists.
Last week, Murdoch ‘wowed’ the world with the launch of a digital ipad-only newspaper - ‘The Daily’. Subscribers pay an annual fee to receive an online newspaper that claims superiority over other free editions.
He claimed the digital newspaper would be able to pay for itself and gain revenue even though it sported the best journalists, merely by saving money on printing and distribution costs.
On top of that, symbiosis is becoming apparent between journalists and the web. Twitter is becoming an effective research tool for new stories. When Heathrow Airport cancelled its flights over Christmas, New Zealand journalists were able to find and interview stranded New Zealanders who tweeted about their situation.
Journalists commonly use facebook and twitter to publicise their stories seconds after they are published. Twitter especially has become a competitive port for the latest news and information where links to not only stories, but videos and news discussions can be opened.
So which is it? Will journalists be swallowed up in the internet age or adapt and thrive in new conditions?
Watch this space.
Already over one million people own an iPad and messages can be sent around the world in a matter of seconds. Inevitably predictions show that traditional press will become redundant as fast-moving messages and news can be sent across the interweb cheaply and instantly.
Paid newspapers are being taken over by their free online editions and journalists are bearing the brunt of change. The Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism, states that in America, 2,400 full-time professional newsroom jobs disappeared in 2007, and 5,900 more were lost in 2008.
Since the rise of the internet over 50 million blogs have appeared, documenting news, events and opinions. The majority of these blogs are written by everyday people rather than by paid journalists, many publishing news before it even makes its way to the newsroom.
So will quality journalism be taken over by the everyday joe blogger in this internet age?
Maybe not. Media tycoon, Rupert Murdoch in a recent interview stated “We are moving from newspapers to news brands.” While he acknowledged newspaper subscriptions were decreasing and online editions growing, he suggested the public would be more drawn to trustworthy news brands that would deliver quality information from trained journalists.
Last week, Murdoch ‘wowed’ the world with the launch of a digital ipad-only newspaper - ‘The Daily’. Subscribers pay an annual fee to receive an online newspaper that claims superiority over other free editions.
He claimed the digital newspaper would be able to pay for itself and gain revenue even though it sported the best journalists, merely by saving money on printing and distribution costs.
On top of that, symbiosis is becoming apparent between journalists and the web. Twitter is becoming an effective research tool for new stories. When Heathrow Airport cancelled its flights over Christmas, New Zealand journalists were able to find and interview stranded New Zealanders who tweeted about their situation.
Journalists commonly use facebook and twitter to publicise their stories seconds after they are published. Twitter especially has become a competitive port for the latest news and information where links to not only stories, but videos and news discussions can be opened.
So which is it? Will journalists be swallowed up in the internet age or adapt and thrive in new conditions?
Watch this space.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Baby Steps: From Copenhagen to Cancun
Compared to the media frenzy at Copenhagen in 2009, coverage of the Cancun climate negotiations last year was relatively low-key.
In fact the UK’s Guardian newspaper estimated that in the months around the conference the big US media (the New York Times, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, ABC, CBS, Fox, MSNBC and NBC ) ran fewer than 200 stories tackling climate change, fewer than the Guardian alone.
But is that a bad thing?
While Copenhagen collapsed under the weight of impossibly high standards, Cancun kicked off with very low expectations.
The negotiations seemed to fare better without the full glare of the world’s media, visits by high-ranking world leaders and do-or-die political rhetoric – all the things that were supposed to help Copenhagen succeed.
This time, with comparatively little fanfare, negotiators made some small but helpful steps.
To start with, the UN’s REDD programme, which helps rich and poor countries team up to save tropical forests, officially became part of negotiations. Countries such as Brazil, Congo and Indonesia will be able to receive aid for not burning or logging forests – a major contributor to carbon emissions.
Countries also worked on furthering a promise made at Copenhagen to create a climate fund to help poor countries cope with climate effects - although the details remain very sketchy.
Perhaps most significantly, tentative progress was made towards allowing countries to keep tabs on each others’ emissions cuts – the subject of a sub-negotiations facilitated by New Zealand’s Climate Change Negotiations Minister Tim Groser.
For the first time, China has agreed to submit its emissions savings to international scrutiny – a must-have for the United States, and a source of tension between the two big polluters (although again there is no detail on how this will happen).
Having been conditioned to expect a shambles, politicians and environmental groups proclaimed Cancun a modest success. It gave new life to the UN process, which was in danger of losing all credibility.
The hard issues have not gone away - country pledges are well below what scientists say is needed, and negotiators will find it hard to keeping deferring legally binding pledges much longer. Kyoto expires at the end of 2012, and as yet there is nothing to replace it. The longer an agreement takes, the more steeply emissions will need to fall.
In the meantime, there is plenty of space for companies to take action.
With political negotiations moving at snails’-pace, some of the world’s biggest companies (Kraft, Unilever) have staked out sustainability strategies in preparation for a greener world economy.
The fourth State of Green Business Report – an annual pulse-checking exercise by Greenbiz.com – concluded that a “sea change” was happening in business sustainability, albeit a very slow one.
The report found that out of 20 “green business” measures, green buildings, water efficiency and investment in green product development had progressed well in the United States last year. Companies did less well when it came to collecting e-waste, encouraging telecommuting and reducing the intensity of greenhouse gas emissions per dollar earned.
The report is worth a look if you are interested in what companies in the world’s biggest economy are doing – and what your company could do better.
You can download a free copy at www.greenbiz.com/blog/2011/02/01/state-green-business-2011
In fact the UK’s Guardian newspaper estimated that in the months around the conference the big US media (the New York Times, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, ABC, CBS, Fox, MSNBC and NBC ) ran fewer than 200 stories tackling climate change, fewer than the Guardian alone.
But is that a bad thing?
While Copenhagen collapsed under the weight of impossibly high standards, Cancun kicked off with very low expectations.
The negotiations seemed to fare better without the full glare of the world’s media, visits by high-ranking world leaders and do-or-die political rhetoric – all the things that were supposed to help Copenhagen succeed.
This time, with comparatively little fanfare, negotiators made some small but helpful steps.
To start with, the UN’s REDD programme, which helps rich and poor countries team up to save tropical forests, officially became part of negotiations. Countries such as Brazil, Congo and Indonesia will be able to receive aid for not burning or logging forests – a major contributor to carbon emissions.
Countries also worked on furthering a promise made at Copenhagen to create a climate fund to help poor countries cope with climate effects - although the details remain very sketchy.
Perhaps most significantly, tentative progress was made towards allowing countries to keep tabs on each others’ emissions cuts – the subject of a sub-negotiations facilitated by New Zealand’s Climate Change Negotiations Minister Tim Groser.
For the first time, China has agreed to submit its emissions savings to international scrutiny – a must-have for the United States, and a source of tension between the two big polluters (although again there is no detail on how this will happen).
Having been conditioned to expect a shambles, politicians and environmental groups proclaimed Cancun a modest success. It gave new life to the UN process, which was in danger of losing all credibility.
The hard issues have not gone away - country pledges are well below what scientists say is needed, and negotiators will find it hard to keeping deferring legally binding pledges much longer. Kyoto expires at the end of 2012, and as yet there is nothing to replace it. The longer an agreement takes, the more steeply emissions will need to fall.
In the meantime, there is plenty of space for companies to take action.
With political negotiations moving at snails’-pace, some of the world’s biggest companies (Kraft, Unilever) have staked out sustainability strategies in preparation for a greener world economy.
The fourth State of Green Business Report – an annual pulse-checking exercise by Greenbiz.com – concluded that a “sea change” was happening in business sustainability, albeit a very slow one.
The report found that out of 20 “green business” measures, green buildings, water efficiency and investment in green product development had progressed well in the United States last year. Companies did less well when it came to collecting e-waste, encouraging telecommuting and reducing the intensity of greenhouse gas emissions per dollar earned.
The report is worth a look if you are interested in what companies in the world’s biggest economy are doing – and what your company could do better.
You can download a free copy at www.greenbiz.com/blog/2011/02/01/state-green-business-2011
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