Following is a roundup of 10 interesting PR- and media-related stories found online last week:
Columnist Sues Over Being Fired for Using Press Releases: Steve Penn worked for the Kansas City Star for about 31 years before being fired by the paper this month for using press releases in his column about upcoming high-school and college sports events, without attribution. Penn argues that this is a "widespread practice in journalism" and that the Star made an example of him. He's suing the Star and McClatchy Newspapers. (Courthouse News Service, The Plog)
Journatic's Mistake: Looking Backward: Journatic, a Chicago-based startup whose aim is to help news providers cover local and community news, has received a lot of heat lately for using fake bylines for some of the content it provided to some newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune. But the real issue here isn't that the company used fake bylines, but that it used bylines at all, according to industry blogger John Betehune. Journatic looked backward instead of forward, trying to fit new content into an old model. (GigaOM)
How to Spin a PR Nightmare: It's been said that there's no such thing as bad press, but organizations that have been on the receiving end of bad press would disagree. After all, negative PR hits businesses right in the pocketbook. Using lessons learned from examples of companies that managed to turn bad press into something good, here are six tips for spinning a PR nightmare: 1) own up, 2) show commitment to repair the negative fallout, 3) stay the course, 4) continue effective communication, 5) be creative and humorous, and 6) fight. (Investopedia)
How to Repost Newsworthy Instagram Photos With Statigram: Instagram, "a visual Twitter," continues to gain traction among smartphone users. But unlike Twitter, there's no function to retweet to curate and spread newsworthy photos. Enter Statigram, a third-party Web interface for Instagram that has a repost function. Reposting an Instagram photo using Statigram requires four simple steps. (Poynter)
How to Overcome Writer's Block: There are many well-known tips for overcoming writer's block -- take a nap, call a friend, take a hot shower, etc. But what's the real source of writer's block, and how can you truly defeat it? Here's some input from John Carlton and Ray Bradbury: go back and study your topic more, and find a topic that you actually feel passionate about. (Spin Sucks)
Your Tweets Are Not Your Own: The City of New York demanded the release of all the tweets from an Occupy Wall Street protestor from Sept. 15-Dec. 31, 2011, in addition to his email address and any other information associated with his account. Last Monday, a judge in Manhattan ruled that Twitter must turn over the requested information. "In doing so, the judge, Matthew A. Sciarrino Jr., indicated that although private speech was protected, the same did not apply to public comments on Twitter." (NYTimes.com, Mediabistro's AllTwitter)
A Journalist's Guide to Infographics: Infographics are popular these days, so journalists might still be figuring out how to utilize them as resources or content. All they need to do is assess the infographic, decide how to use it, and publish and share it with readers. When choosing how to use the infographic, journalists can use one to support a trending topic, accompany an article or be featured by itself. (talkTECH Communications)
What to Do Before Going to Grad School for Public Relations: While going to graduate school for public relations isn't for everybody, it was appreciated by this PR executive. "I learned a lot about my profession that I didn’t already know, and I helped the PR field by publishing scholarly research." If you decide to go back to school to learn more about PR, here are four things to do: 1) do your research and know why you're going for; 2) know the degree or program you want; 3) get real-world experience before going back to the classroom; and 4) network. (Ragan.com)
A Master's in Journalism and Entrepreneurship: Dena Levitz, manager of digital strategies for the Newspaper Association of America, shares about her her realization that she needed to make herself more marketable and qualified. She is set to be a member of American University's inaugural class of master's students studying media entrepreneurship this coming fall. "By the time I'm done with my coursework, I hope to be ready to develop an entirely new news product and then pitch it to financial investors so that it can come to fruition." (PBS MediaShift)
The Guide to PR Entrepreneurship: Here's an A-to-Z guide for PR business owners at all levels of experience or aspiration. The guide starts with "A is for advice," then proceeds through entries like "E is for expectations," "J is for journalist" and "T is for taxes" before finishing at "Z is for zzzzzz’s." (Proper Propaganda)
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