commbasics

Reading in the Economist, Feb 24, it looks like the media recession, that began in 2000, won't be ending soon. In fact, it may get worse before it gets better. Ad buys in 2008 can expect to rise thanks to to presidential election and the Olympics, but after that, unless the worldwide economy picks up, there should be a sharp drop in 2009. That's when we can expect another cleansing and consolidation of the media. Even online advertising is expected to drop. The reason? Whenever cuts are to be made, the organization charged with growing the market -- marketing -- is cut. then companies realize they lost market share during a downturn -- because they aren't marketing -- and start pumping money into the department again. Wouldn't it be amazing if the corporate lemmings suddenly realized this cycle and decided to spend their way out of a downturn ... just like good investors do?

Just finished a brief exchange of emails with Richard Goering, a veteran tech journalist who was among those bounced from EE Times last summer. Richard is not fronting his own online pub ( SCDSource.com ) covering the EDA industry. We were talking about some announcements coming up at a trade show and whether he would have time to take a meeting with the client. I pretty much knew the answer, but this time his response was very clear. "The best timing (for announcements) is normally not during a conference. By the time I get to a conference, I'm looking for event coverage and major news, not new products." I've said it before, but it bears repeating (at least until people get it): Trade shows are NOT a good place to do press meetings, especially on products. You need to meet with the press weeks BEFORE a trade show so that when the news about your product comes out, customers will want to visit your booth. Stop wasting PR budget money on trade show efforts and s...

I've been talking with a lot of media people for the past year about the state of the media and have had some significant discussions with both David Heller of IB Systems and John Blyler at Extension Media. We've come to agree that while there are many reasons why journalism is struggling as a business model but a significant contributor to the industry stagnation is the belief in two specific measurements: circulation and exclusivity. Neither of these measurement have any meaning in today's world. That's why Footwasher Media, Extension Media and IB Systems are teaming up. Footwasher's New Tech Press will provide content to the online and print publications of both organizations (including Chip Design magazine and EDACafe.com). Publications, websites and broadcast media base advertising rates on the size of their audiences, but the audience increasingly doesn't value large audiences, especially in the case of B2B print publications and they are refusing to spo...

Ward Bushee is the new editor of the SF Chronicle. This is the guy with "deep Bay Area roots." He is currently the editor of the Arizona Republic. He had a short stint at the Marin Independent Journal, but that was his only stop in the Bay Area. He also helped launch USA today. He's got great credentials, but "Bay Area roots?" I guess we just don't have any credible journalists in the Bay Area. Good luck, Ward.

Just got a post from Debra Bulkeley, erstwhile Electronic Business editor dropped by Reed last year, and she has landed safely at CXO Media, producing CIO and CSO magazines. Great acquisition by CXO and a great place for Debra's talents. Way to go, Deb!

Got a request for a list of the journalists that have lost or changed jobs due to the changes in media over the past year. Off the top of my head I came up with: Reed Ed Sperling to freelancing Colleen Taylor to Financial Times Joshua Israelsohn to consulting Aimee Kalnoskas to Advantage Media and then to Consulting Debra Bulkeley and Jessica Davis to temporary oblivion CMP Richard Goering to SCD Source Greg Lupion to freelancing Brian Fuller to "the darkside" Steve Weitzner to Ziff Davis Dave Bursky and Dylan McGrath to corporate and freelancing Hearst Electronic Products; Alix Paultre, to Advantage Media Biz Press Paul Barrett, from Business Week back to the WSJ Rachel Konrad and May Wong from the AP to temporary oblivion RTC Group Ann Thryft back to freelancing That's just in 2007, but that's not the telling feature. In the past decade, a little more than 90 percent of the publications I have worked with are now gone with nothing to replace them. Some of the pla...

There's a lot off hand wringing going on today about the departure of James O'Shea from the LA Times, but we may all be missing something here. The new management of the Times wanted to cut the newsroom budget, specifically foreign bureaus, and focus resources on the Olympics and the Presidential campaign. I'm not sure that's a bad idea right now. It might be an even better idea for the Times to focus on being a local paper and maybe start attracting readers beyond the politically and culturally elite of the LA basin. I was in the LA area for a couple of weeks for vacation this summer (vacation in LA?) and got to see something of the real LA culture and people. They are concerned about their jobs, their health and, surprisingly enough, their community. And they are reading publications that focus on those things. They are not reading the Times. So, like I said, maybe the new Times management has an idea about how to get readership, and as a result advertising, up...

Got an email yesterday from Joshua Israelsohn, who thanked me for the plug but needed a clarification. Just so I don't mess it up again he said: "We are offering consulting services that aim to increase the quality and effectiveness of a company’s technical communication practices. The media representation portion of our business, headed by JAS co-founder and industry veteran Steve Wirth, is an ad-sales network with access to international and properties in North America, Europe, and Asia." That's a lot more than tech writing.

Aimee Kalnoskas has joined a freelance outfit back east, in partnership with another journalism refugee, Joshua Israelsohn. Aimee has been the editor in chief of for longer than I can remember and stayed with the magazine when it was sold by Reed to Advantage. Joshua left EDN a little over a year ago to launch a technical writing and advertising consultancy called JAS Technical Media. That's a pretty potent team. Aimee experience at ECN made her a great a technology generalist and is an audio wizard. He also knows more about mixed-signal technology than most of the industry. If you're looking for real, competent tech writing, contact them at jisraelsohn at ieee.org.

The first day of CES has come to a close. Bill Gates has said his farewell. And the word from the press and attendees is that CES is starting to look a lot like Comdex. Dead. Nothing new. Same old promises. Too much hype. I'm not surprised.

Paul Barrett has returned to the Wall Street Journal after only a few months after leaving the journal to manage investigative reports for Business Week. There are rumors of yet another layoff at BW, which I believe would be the fifth in three years. I knew things were tight at the pub when they let Kathy Rebello go last year, but now they are not only cutting into the bone, but some of the bones are walking away on their own. The cuts are in response to dropping advertising revenues. Management has been responding by cutting staff and adding "celebrity" columnists to the mix. Less information and more opinion. And the readers are responding by not reading. Contributed articles and opinion might be a lot less costly to put into a pub, but I think we have hit a saturation point in the reading public. Readers want to know what's going on, not what pundits think. Unfortunately for the rest of us that means we're getting to the point where if we want that kind of in...

Rick Merritt at EE Times. has a post out of CES regarding the wireless industry that bears reading. Once again semiconductor companies are shelling out truckloads of cash to present tired, repetitious information at a trade show that continues to damage their credibility and that of an entire industry. The last wireless company I consulted for assured me that what they were demonstrating at CES was "real" and not just a demo; that they had customers ready to talk about how it was being implemented and would shortly be delivering product to the consumer market. That was two years ago and it still hasn't happened. In fact, that same company is at CES this year with the same story. The three other wireless companies I considered working with (but didn't) are also saying the same thing at the same place. No one believes their story either. After that first foray into the wireless industry, and giving up some of my credibility with the press by convincing them that ...