Treasure Coast Media Breakfast - Media Panels
The group has broken up into two large segments (Professional and Novice) to participate in the media panel discussions. Although I might not be a seasoned as others in the room, I am hanging with the 'Professional' folks.
News and Business:
When asked about satellite radio, Greg Wyatt from Port St. Lucie Broadcasters (WPSL) thinks that both Sirius and XM will be bankrupt shortly and that OnStar will probably buy them, possibly by 2007. He thinks they don't have a strong business model.
Much of the discussion is focussed on local media issues, i.e. which papers plan on publishing in which markets and how more local community news can get into the paper.
Some of the local media would like to see releases in two languages to help reach the local markets.
Social & Entertainment:
The panel is rotating out and a group that focusses on Social & Entertainment media. One example is Luminaries, a publication that specializes in non-profit news in the community. All the panelists work for publications that are heavily geared towards events, calendars, etc.
My question was how the local publications are dealing with sites like MySpace that are the social network/calendar for the youth in the market. The spokesperson for Luminaries said they republish their content online, but that wasn't really an answer to my question.
Overall this community has a number of great local resources to promote/cover events.
Visual PR and Photography:
As with any member of the media they are sometimes amazed when they receive incomplete information for an photo, event or a release. When you submit information provide details and contact information. Always think visually with any story
TCPalm.com is posting a number of multimedia elements including audio slide shows (a simple slide slow with voiceover). The web sites are becoming much more visual in nature. In addition the photographers are doing more reporting. Instead of taking a photo and providing a simple cut-line they are collecting more information and posting short posts to accompany the photography.
With their web sites they paper can provide additional coverage/photography of an event.
Citizen Journalism:
A group from YourHub.com is speaking about the site/print product that they produce in the local market. It was interesting that the 'Citizen's Journalism' panel didn't include any actual citizens, only traditional media :-)
The content that is published in the print piece goes out weekly to almost 200,000 subscribers and is almost completely generated by the citizens (they are at 95%).
Bob Moore says that the YourHub products have had 700,000 page views since February, 2006. Each community hub averages 15,000 page views per month.
One concern is that the site might become overrun with PR folks just pushing through press releases. Will there be reader push-back?
At the Palm Beach Post they have launched 30 blogs that are written by the reporters. In addition they have created a page on how to interact with the paper.
