SYSTEMATIZING PERSUASION

A better way to get that lightbulb idea to resonate one-on-one with a tough customer. Photo by Riccardo Annandale on Unsplash

One of the operating principles of Dunlop Media’s SPAR® communications trainings is that no device has ever surpassed the power of a well-told story when it comes to persuading an audience. But what about persuading an individual?  Especially one who’s a bit of a know-it-all - arrogant, narcissistic, or just plain disagreeable?  

An organizational psychologist has studied the art of persuasion in detail, focusing in particular on colleagues of the late Apple Computer co-founder Steve Jobs. His research identified four personality traits among individuals generally regarded as unpersuadable, and four techniques that were used successfully to help them change their minds. Courtesy Harvard Business Review.

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COVID NEWS MORE NEGATIVE IN U.S. THAN ELSEWHERE

It’s an axiom of the news industry that bad news sells, and over the past year, there’s been plenty of bad news about COVID-19. But a study has found that news coverage of the pandemic has been consistently more negative in the U.S. than elsewhere.

A team of researchers led by a Dartmouth College economics professor examined tens of thousands of articles about COVID, and found nearly 90 percent of U.S. originating material had a negative tone, compared to 50-60 percent of articles with their origins in scientific journals or international outlets. He called the results “depressing.” Courtesy WBUR/Boston.

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FACEBOOK, GOOGLE, AND SHARING THE NEWS WEALTH

As local newspapers close down and community news coverage dries up, research has shown that public participation and trust in democracy declines too. That’s not new. What is new is what one country has decided to do about it.

The Australian government recently passed a law requiring Facebook and Google to share ad revenue with media outlets whose content they aggregate. The idea is to stop social media giants from siphoning off income that should go to support actual news coverage. But the approach is drawing criticism that the deal is skewed in favor of large national media organizations, and does little to support local press. Courtesy The Conversation.

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TRUMP, TWITTER, AND THE LAW

Following the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, Twitter and Facebook took the unusual step of banning President Trump from their platforms, citing evidence that his comments incited the violence there. But their authority to act rests on a poorly understood and hotly debated law that has drawn intense criticism from both Republicans and Democrats.

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act protects social media companies from lawsuits based on content posted by users. It also specifies that the companies have the right to remove content that violates their guidelines and values. But while the law has critics across the political spectrum, most experts agree that it’s vital to a relatively free and safe Internet. Here’s an overview of the law and its key provisions. Courtesy The Indian Express.

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NEWSPAPERS TANK, TV NEWS THRIVES IN PANDEMIC

The ongoing threat to world health posed by COVID-19 has had some unexpected impacts on the health of the U.S. news media, according to new figures. And they track well beyond the economic impact on the economy, which saw five years of growth wiped out in the second quarter of 2020 alone.

Newspapers saw ad revenue plummet 42 percent in q2 2020 compared with the same quarter a year earlier. Circulation dropped by 8 percent. National TV news, however, moved largely in the opposite direction. Ad revenue for the nightly network newscasts grew by 11 percent. Cable news was a case study in extremes, with a 27 percent decline in revenue at MSNBC more than offset by a 41 percent increase at Fox News Channel. Courtesy The Pew Center.

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MEDIA TRUST DECLINES ACROSS THE BOARD, NEW POLL FINDS

The gap between what Americans expect, and what they think they’re getting, from the news media is wide and growing, according to a landmark poll of some 20-thousand people. The country has high aspirations for the ideals of journalism, especially in its watchdog role, but their practical hope for bias-free coverage is rapidly vanishing.

The poll comes at a time when social media seems to be running the table when it comes to driving the news cycle in an increasingly vitriolic election year. And it reveals that while media trust is higher among Democrats than Republicans, perceptions of slanted coverage run across the political spectrum. Courtesy The Knight Foundation.

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ONLINE COURSES: HERE TO STAY

The COVID pandemic has been an education for us in countless ways. We’ve learned how far respiratory droplets travel through the air. We’ve become familiar with terms like “social distancing” and “viral load.” But perhaps the most lasting change from the pandemic is how the technophobes among us have finally been forced to embrace the once arcane concept known as “remote learning.”

And eventually, argues this professor, the best and the brightest at online presentations will rise to the top. “Because of economies of scale,” he writes, “the remote option would enjoy a substantial cost advantage.” Courtesy The New York Times.

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COVID PUTS CONFERENCES IN LIMBO

In many respects they’re the lifeblood of industry: business conferences, either for one organization or many, have been the parlor room of thoughtful exchange of ideas for as long as modern business has existed. But as more information about the coronavirus emerges, it’s becoming likely that many of these mainstays of commerce will not be returning once a vaccine is found. Virtual meetings are the new normal.

“The semi-anonymous nature o the Internet is a great equalizer,” one virtual conference organizer said. “You lose the intimidating factor of walking up to someone.” Courtesy USA Today.

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NOW STARRING YOUR BEDROOM CLOSET

A Twitter user with the handle “Room Rater” offers a tongue-in-cheek comment on Beto O’Rourke’s basement interview.

Lights, hair, makeup are among the building blocks of a positive visual impact on television. They are items the networks have had on their checklist for decades, along with an army of stylists, advisers, and - yes - communications trainers.

When the COVID pandemic stopped pundits from trekking to the TV studio to pontificate, most resorted to Skype, Zoom, or WebEx - perhaps not realizing that the messy shelf behind their desk, or the clothes hanging from the drain pipe in their basement, were becoming a distraction for all but the most focused viewers. As a Virginia bookstore owner said of the late night network host broadcasting from in front of his home bookshelf: “I don’t think I heard a word he said.” Courtesy The Associated Press.

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LEGENDARY TABLOID REPORTER STEVE DUNLEAVY DEAD AT 81

Steve Dunleavy, tabloid journalist extraordinaire, 1988. Courtesy Fox Television.

He’s no relation to Dunlop Media founder Steve Dunlop, but they did work together, on Fox TV’s prime-time news program “The Reporters.” And he is a legend in the New York news industry. There are almost as many stories about the hard-working, hard-hitting, hard-drinking Steve Dunleavy as there are stories that he’s covered: from the Chappaquiddick incident that ensnared then Senator Ted Kennedy, to the death of Elvis Presley, to the Jim Bakker and Amy Fisher scandals.

Through it all, Dunleavy relished the title of tabloid journalist. “Dunleavy was one of the greatest reporters of all time,” said Fox media mogul Rupert Murdoch. “His passing is the end of a great era.” There are enough tales about Dunleavy to fill a book, if someone would write one. This article is just a start. Courtesy The New York Post.

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ANTI FAKE NEWS LAW PROPOSED IN SINGAPORE

Trust in institutions continues in decline around the world, but in many respects the Fourth Estate, with “fake news” now an international mantra, has taken it harder than most. Now, a government minister in Singapore has made front page news in Asia by proposing a “Protection from Falsehood and Manipulations” bill and presenting it for parliamentary debate.

The minister spent the better part of two hours arguing the rationale behind the proposed law. But it’s being criticized by some lawmakers for giving a small number of government officials a broad new power - namely, to decide what’s false, and how to address it. Courtesy The Straits Times.

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HOW I SAVED THE CROWN OF THORNS

Field reporters especially like to capture two kinds of stories: extraordinary people in ordinary situations, and ordinary people in extraordinary situations. The latter almost certainly applies to Fr. Jean-Marc Fournier, a Catholic priest who doubles as the chaplain to a fire brigade in Paris. The extraordinary occurred in the late afternoon of April 15 when the cleric’s mobile phone rang.

Fr. Fournier, who survived an ambush in Afghanistan that killed 10 troops, soon found himself directing an effort to save priceless items from Notre-Dame Cathedral, which was engulfed in flames. They include not just the Eucharist, which Catholics believe is the actual presence of Jesus under the forms of bread and wine, but also what is said to be the real Crown of Thorns, which Christians believe was placed on Jesus’s head by his executioners before his crucifixion. Emergency workers declared Fr. Fournier "an absolute hero." Courtesy The Daily Telegraph.

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IS THE RISE OF MEDIA LITERACY JUST MORE "FAKE NEWS"?

An 1894 newspaper illustration depicting various forms of fabricated news. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

If we can’t trust the quality of the information we use to make choices in a democracy, can democracy survive? Behind that question is a rising effort to combat “fake news,” sometimes with legal measures. According to the advocacy group Media Literacy Now, ten states considered media literacy legislation in 2018 alone.

The inevitable question is rising to the surface: who decides what news is fake and what isn’t? Project Censored, a California-based media watchdog group, is skeptical of the movement that has turned media literacy into a buzz phrase. Its director contends that “the whole fighting of ‘fake news’ has become a Trojan horse to propel other agendas.” Courtesy Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson.

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#METOO HITS THE WORLD OF EUROPEAN JOURNALISM

As outrage piles on outrage in the burgeoning #MeToo movement, a Facebook group of French journalists has been accused of bullying female colleagues via social media - in a perfect example of how slippery a slope sophomoric wisecracks have become in the 21st century.

Members of the Facebook group - “Ligue du LOL” - say the bullying started as “dubious humor” in exchanges that were intended to be private. But the harassment - aimed largely at minority and ethnic fellow journalists - degenerated into pornographic memes, along with photos that were doctored with the intent of humiliating their targets. Six journalists have now been suspended for their roles, including the group’s founder, who was suspended by the left wing French newspaper Libération. Courtesy The Guardian.

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HEDGE FUND SEEKS TO ACQUIRE NEWSPAPER PUBLISHER GANNETT

The Arlington, Virginia headquarters of USA Today, published by Gannett.

The news industry has been through so many cost saving measures over the last decade that it’s a wonder there is anything left to cut. A group backed by a Denver-based hedge fund begs to differ. It has offered $1.36 billion to purchase Gannett, the publisher of USA Today and other major papers around the US.

The group, Digital First Media, is known in the industry for ruthless cost cutting. “Digital First is really the most avaricious of the newspaper chains these days," and is "unique in the degree to which it is willing to cut" costs and jobs, said a journalism professor from Northeastern University. Courtesy The Chicago Tribune.

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CNN 'JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR' PEDDLES FAKE NEWS, RESIGNS

December is proving to be a real mixed bag for the field of journalism. TIME Magazine named as Persons of The Year “The Guardians” - meaning, reporters who guard the freedom of the press and fight for truth and transparency. So far, so good.

But as the month and year draw to a close comes troubling news of a reporter for the German news magazine Der Spiegel whom CNN had named “Journalist of the Year.” According to a Der Spiegel editor, the reporter apparently “made up stories and invented protagonists” in at least 14 out of 60 articles appearing in print and on the website over a period of years. Courtesy Marketwatch.

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COMING SOON TO A NEWS AGGREGATOR NEAR YOU: PEOPLE

Since the dawn of the printing press and the town crier, news distribution has always been a labor intensive process. The Internet upended the longstanding dynamic, removing not just the printing press, but in some cases the crier as well: news editors were being replaced by algorithms that automatically tailor news feeds based on what they know about Web surfers’ preferences.

That, of course, eliminates the serendipity factor: stumbling on something that a professional thought was inherently interesting enough for you to see. Amid growing criticism that faceless algorithms are at least partially responsible for the spread of “fake news,” Apple is introducing an innovation to its news feed: human editors. Courtesy The New York Times.

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CHRISTINE BLASEY FORD: WHO GETS THE SCOOP?

Reporters take pride in building what used to be called a Rolodex of sources and contacts, against the day that one of the names on their list will tip them off to something worthwhile. And the story of Christine Blasey Ford, accuser of Supreme Court justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh, certainly qualifies in that department.

But when you have both a story - and competing loyalties on which publication to give it to - how do you decide? It’s proving a curious sidebar to the landmark Kavanaugh confirmation hearings. Courtesy The Poynter Institute.

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JOURNALIST: MCCARRICK RUMORS WERE "TOO OUTLANDISH" TO BE BELIEVED

As the Roman Catholic Church reels from the resignation of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick following sex abuse charges, there’s been lots of soul searching going on. And not all of it has been in the Church.

Mike Kelly, a columnist for The Record, a daily newspaper in northern New Jersey, disclosed that a priest telephoned him some twenty years ago, asking for the paper to investigate McCarrick. “Some priests and nuns apparently regularly discussed the rumors of the archbishop’s strange sleeping relationships with his favored seminarians,” the reporter said. “I remember responding by saying something like: ‘The archbishop is sleeping with seminarians? You’ve got to be kidding me.’  I even added a colorful expletive, too.”

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CATHOLIC EDITOR TO U.S. BISHOPS: DITCH THE LAWYERS

Theodore McCarrick, who resigned in disgrace from the College of Cardinals following charges of sexual abuse.  Image via Wikimedia Commons.

If anyone should know how to speak to the public with a human touch, you would think religious leaders would have it down pat.  But as the Roman Catholic Church struggles with yet another sex abuse scandal - this one directly involving an American cardinal, Theodore McCarrick, whose egregious behavior led him to resign in disgrace - the hierarchy's handling of the matter is making some wonder if any public relations lessons were truly taken to heart during the previous debacles.  

"When the bishops make statements, it is clear that they have all been lawyered,"  says a British moral theologian and editor of a major Catholic weekly.  "Trouble is, the lawyers remove any trace of humanity too."  Courtesy The Catholic Herald.

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