don’t forget the basics: why strong ethical practices are essential to publishing success
DESCRIPTION
Frank Alkyer's slides from May 26, 2011 ASBPE webinar, B2B Ethical Struggles and Solutions in a New-Media EraTRANSCRIPT
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Don’t Forget The Basics
Why strong ethical practices are essential to publishing success
Frank Alkyer, Maher Publications
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The Ethical Crisis
• Journalism’s ethical crisis has reached a critical point in B-to-B
• The double whammy of rapid technological change and recession helped create the challenge
• But the basics still rule…readers demand good journalism. Advertising goes where the readers go
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Honey, I shrunkthe Ad Budgets
• Good journalism requires investment
• Print still provides the bulk of sales for most publications
• Online sales are paltry by comparison (But Improving
• Advertisers want the tracking power of online, the cost of online, but the effectiveness, or staying power, of print
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What’s This Got To Do With Ethics?
• In this environment, it’s easy for everyone from top execs to the janitor to bend rules, especially online
• We cannot let this happen
• Let’s discuss some real-world examples—and why they damage brands
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List Abuse
• A magazine is a list
• Good editorial, design and even advertising help the list develop and keep it strong
• Abusing the list is abusing your readers, and killing off business in the long-term
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List Abuse
• Posting too often
• If you have nothing important to say, say nothing
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List Abuse
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List Abuse
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Press Release Abuse
• Press releases, posted exactly as they are received, have no business being on an editorial website
• A great website is a filter for the news, not an extension of its advertisers websites
• Posting every release is abdicating journalistic responsibility
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Citizen Journalist Abuse
• People who write for free will give you exactly what you pay for in the long run
• Counting these people who go to your site to post articles as visitors is fake readership
• It’s a scam
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Citizen Journalist Abuse
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Fair Use Abuse
• Apply the same rules for “Fair Use” that you would use in your print product
• Do not simply lift photos and copy from other sites, unless you have proper permission
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Aggregation Woes
• Easy to do, but also easy to overdo
• Ethical issues come from not using links to create context for something you, as a journalist, are trying to say
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Aggregation Woes
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Finding Ethical Solutions
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Finding Solutions
• Creating a strong online ethics policy is a long-term process, not an event
• Include everyone in the discussion
• Keep the focus on the reader
• Listen, but be prepared with well-researched thought on why strong ethics delivers long-term success
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Finding Solutions
• Make ethics guidelines clear, simple and achievable
• Create a list of “dos” and “don’ts”
• Tattoo your guidelines on everyone in the shop
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Making Sense of Ethics at Maher Pubs
• We’re not perfect...by a long shot, but here’s what we do in trying to make good ethical decisions and make money, too
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Making Sense of Ethics at Maher Pubs
• Everyone at the company is a potential news source
• Everyone is respected for their industry knowledge — from sales to circulation to editorial and design
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Making Sense of Ethics at Maher Pubs
• Editorial makes the final call on lineups
• Editorial presents those lineups to sales and management
• Sales then aggressively sells very inch of ad space possible
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Making Sense of Ethics at Maher Pubs
• We don’t just post press releases
• Our non-editorial staffers are encouraged to deliver any news they hear about in their daily rounds. Some of our best tips come from them
• We work together, but understand our value is selecting the most interesting news, not all the news
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Questions and comments
• Please feel free to e-mail me with any thoughts on the issue.