Blogging as marketing tool

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Good story in the NYT Small Business section on blogging as a marketing tool:

“…while blogs may be useful to many more small businesses, even blogging experts do not recommend it for the majority.

Guy Kawasaki, a serial entrepreneur, managing partner of Garage Technology Ventures and a prolific blogger, put it this way: “If you’re a clothing manufacturer or a restaurant, blogging is probably not as high on your list as making good food or good clothes.”

Blogging requires a large time commitment and some writing skills, which not every small business has on hand.”

Job outlook for journalism grads

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Mindy McAdams’ Teaching Online Journalism:

“New U.S. graduates with a bachelor’s degree in journalism or mass communication had a median annual salary of $30,000, according to a survey of spring 2006 graduates. New graduates with a master’s degree in journalism or mass communication had a median annual salary of $38,000. Jobs held by all these graduates included those in public relations and advertising as well as online, print, TV and radio journalism.

Does this mean getting a master’s degree will increase your salary? Maybe in some fields, but not necessarily in journalism. I’d like to see this survey cut the grain a bit finer on the master’s degree data, because in my experience, a hiring editor at a news organization doesn’t give a hoot about your degree(s) or your GPA — a hiring editor cares only about your experience in the field.

This marks a distinct difference between journalism jobs and jobs in some other fields, where the extra one or two years in graduate school are assumed to make the candidate more fit to do the job. In our field, the only thing that makes you more fit is more work experience.”

I haven’t been involved in hiring for our newsrooms for long time, but I think experience would trump grad degree for us.

Lucky Money Toad

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ChanchuA lovely Christmas Eve at Susan’s with her family and friends. Janny (an anglicized version of her Chinese name) gave several us Lucky Money Toads. From the Wikipedia entry:

“Chan Chu means “toad; frog”, especially the “Lucky Money Toad” or “Three-legged Money Frog”, a popular Chinese symbol for prosperity. It is often portrayed with red eyes and flared nostrils, sitting on a pile of traditional Chinese cash, with a coin in its mouth. According to Feng Shui lore, it is believed to drive away evil, protect wealth, and increase income.”

I like that drive away evil part. Thank you, Janny.

Lee Garrett

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Sometime in the 70’s I interviewed Lee Garrett on the Grapevine, a talk show we did at KBOA. If memory serves, Garrett –who was blind– was in town visiting his momma (or some relative). I recall him being a funny guy. Following the interview, I walked him out to the parking lot (where his driver was waiting) and he said that he could drive himself, but only at night.

I sure would like to know the Kennett connection. Can anyone out there help me with that?

Update 1/2/088: Anthony Buckley –Lee Garrett’s son– found his way to this post and confirms that there is still family in Kennett and Lee visits a couple of times a year.
Lee was recently out on tour with Stevie Wonder and has also co-written an album that’s been nominated for an upcoming Grammy (“Soul of a Man” Patrick Lamb performer and co-writer).

And McNulty is drinking again

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“The fifth and final season of ‘The Wire’ (January 6) centers on the media’s role in addressing – or failing to address – the fundamental political, economic and social realities depicted over the course of the series, while also resolving storylines of the numerous characters woven throughout the narrative arc of the show.

This season of ‘The Wire’ is based in large part on series creator David Simon’s experiences in 13 years at The Baltimore Sun. Simon decries recent trends in the newspaper industry that have conspired to make high-end journalism vulnerable: out-of-town chain ownership, an economic climate in which the share price of media companies matters more to industry leaders than the product itself, and a newsroom culture in which prizes, personal ambition and the cult of the “impact” story has replaced consistent and detailed coverage of complex issues as the primary goal.”

It pains me when really good shows like The Sopranos (early seasons), Deadwood, and The Wire come to an end. But not as much as seeing them drag on after everyone (but the network accountants) stopped giving a shit.