News media trends demonstrate fundamental shifts In its State of the News Media 2006 report, the Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) has highlighted six trends that are helping transform American journalism. PEJ is a group of respected journalists, funded by Pew Charitable Trusts, and the shifts this group is discovering suggest that technology will continue to redefine traditional news media. The emerging trends cited by the report were:

1. The new paradox of journalism is more outlets covering fewer stories. We’re seeing more reports on the same handful of stories every day, the study notes, adding, “Such concentration of personnel around a few stories, in turn, has aided the efforts of newsmakers to control what the public knows.”
2. Big-city metro newspapers are the ones that are most threatened. The top national newspapers and the smaller newspapers are holding their own, but the big-city papers—which traditionally have had the resources for roles as government watchdogs —are being supplanted by niche publications that serve smaller target audiences and that are much less likely to hold government accountable in their reports.
3. The long battle between idealists and accountants at many old-media companies is over. The accountants have won. As a result, the concern of newspapers for ethics and the public trust is likely to diminish.
4. Traditional media finally appear to be moving toward technological innovation. Instead of simply repurposing material on their Web sites, media outlets are realizing that much of their revenue growth is coming from their online editions. More media are putting their news online first, and many find they must undergo a significant culture change.
5. Online aggregators of news are playing with limited time. Companies like Google and Yahoo are gathering and selling the works of other media, from which they are taking away revenue. “The more they succeed,” the study asserts, “the faster they erode the product they are selling, unless the economic model is radically changed.”
6. The central economic question is how long it will take online journalism to become a major economic engine, and if it will ever be as big as print or television. The study concludes, “It will be years before the Internet rivals old-media economics, if it ever does,” with the outcome likely being conventional media seeking compensation for their content from Internet providers and aggregators.

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Polls & Surveys
Since the consumer marketplace has become so fragmented, and therefore more difficult to measure overall, media have been paying even closer attention to surveys of the public to try to spot general trends. For their part, marketers have attempted to take advantage of the media’s penchant for polls, according to a recent New York Times report, by issuing surveys on everything from where cleanliness ranks on the priority lists of homeowners to the impact of hot tubs on relationships. Media are turning a much more cautious eye toward surveys that are really the result of “pseudo-research,” results that look like they reflect public opinion but that may be flawed in the way the information was gathered or interpreted or that may have been biased from the start. If companies want their research to pass media scrutiny for accuracy and credibility, they should realize that media and consumers alike will be focusing more intently on such questions* as:

• Who is funding the research, and what biases might the funding source generate in the findings?
• What methods and procedures were employed, and how might these influence the conclusions?
• What kind of research has this same organization carried out in the past that helps make it experienced on the current topic and marketplace?
• How old is the data, and might more current data produce significantly different findings?
• Was the research quantitative (based on relatively large numbers of people) or qualitative (small groups giving opinions and suggestions)?
• Is the sample size not only large enough but also appropriate for the conclusions? (e.g., does medical research on men apply to women?)
• Can the results from this specific research be generalized or not?
• Is this a baseline study or can results be compared to a previous baseline?
• Was an appropriate control group used in testing-oriented research?

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MIT Technology Review

Attempting to keep up with the daily surge of developments in technology may seem a hopeless pursuit, but the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has taken on the task and succeeds spectacularly with the online edition of its Technology Review magazine. The print and electronic versions of this publication are produced by an independent media company owned by MIT, and the institute claims it’s the oldest technology magazine in the world, having been established in 1899.

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Four PR pros join business-to-business practice
Accounts in Airfoil’s business-to-business technology practice have continued to enlarge the scope of activities within their public relations programs. To help guide and execute these programs, four PR professionals have joined the practice:

• Account Executive Heather Horne is responsible for executing media relations, speaking engagements and award-program activities, as well as account support, for several practice-group clients, including Microsoft and Sircon Corporation.
• Elizabeth-Ann Pandzich, an account coordinator, works on the Microsoft Small and Midmarket Solutions & Partners (SMS&P) account, providing support in research and securing client placements in regional and trade publications. She also contributes to Airfoil’s research and media relations efforts on behalf of Sircon Corporation.
• Christa Shalhoub is an account coordinator responsible for supporting the corporate-giving activities of Microsoft’s U.S. subsidiary, Microsoft’s Enterprise sector activities, and Red Level Networks, along with marketing communications for Airfoil.
• Assistant Account Coordinator Kim Watts provides her team with media relations and research support for Microsoft’s Enterprise sector and its SMS&P group.

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Airfoil staff soars

Employees benefit from Airfoil’s continued growth, as the firm made the following promotions from within: Patrick McLaughlin and Kevin Sangsland, each, from account supervisor to account manager; and Leah Haran, from account manager to account director.

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