With the recent auto bailout, we were treated to quite a few stories about the “future of Detroit.” In a sad story from The Weekly Standard, writer Matt Labash visits the city that was once a thriving metropolis but is now dying with no salvation in sight: Over the last several years, it has ranked [...]
Archive for the 'Writing' Category
The sad, slow death of Detroit
Published by January 1st, 2009 in General, Government and Writing. 0 CommentsOverused words get banished in 2008
Published by January 3rd, 2008 in Education, Journalism and Writing. 0 CommentsThe public relations department at Lake Superior State University has released its list of “banished words” and phrases, some of which I’m horribly guilty of using in casual conversation, including “perfect storm” and “sweet.” Aside from making me self-conscious when talking to others, this list is a good reminder to check over my writing for [...]
Military changes comm policy, bloggers need permission to post
Published by May 3rd, 2007 in Government, PR in the Media, Public Relations, Social Media, Web 2.0, Web/Internet, Weblogs and Writing. 0 CommentsOver the last few years, I’ve really enjoyed reading blogs of soldiers serving overseas- The information comes straight from the source without being filtered through the mainstream media, and as a result I’ve been able to read a number of extremely compelling stories. I empathize with these guys. I see how hard they’re working, and [...]
E-mail: Use with caution
Published by April 23rd, 2007 in Technology, Web/Internet and Writing. 0 CommentsSFGate features an article about the perils of e-mail, including all of those lovely real-life examples we can learn so much from, including the misdirected love letter and accidentally sending the same message multiple times. They also give a handy list of guidelines for using e-mail. This is my favorite, which really applies in today’s [...]
How can newspapers pull themselves from the grave?
Published by March 26th, 2007 in Journalism, New Media, Technology, Web 2.0, Web/Internet, Weblogs and Writing. 0 CommentsRobert Scoble says, “Newspapers are Dead” and that his son will never “subscribe to, nor read, a newspaper.” He’s probably right. Most people my age and younger get their news online or from news/entertainment shows like The Daily Show. I’ll admit to reading papers daily, but that’s because it’s a part of my job- Otherwise [...]
It’s not time to kill the press release yet
Published by January 21st, 2007 in PR in the Media, PR Practice, Public Relations, RSS, Social Networking, Technology, Web 2.0, Web/Internet, Weblogs and Writing. 1 CommentI had to groan a bit when I read Robert Scoble’s recent comments (agreeing with similar comments made by Stowe Boyd) about the need to get rid of the press release as a mechanism for distributing information. Scoble is one of my favorite daily reads, but I think he’s off when he suggests press releases [...]
MS Word “track changes” embarrassments
Published by January 12th, 2007 in PR Practice, Technology and Writing. 0 Comments“Track changes” is a feature in Microsoft Word that allows multiple authors to collaborate on a document and see what each person has contributed or changed. However, if such a document is sent before the tracked changes are accepted or deleted, readers will be able to see what was removed. In some cases, this can [...]
Today a family member received a "thank you" letter that contained a long, fairly obscure word. In fact, I had to look it up in the dictionary, for I had never heard it used in conversation, nor read it. The word sounded like something you’d see in those "Word of the Day" calendars. That word [...]
Newspapers Still (Rightfully) Dominate
Published by September 6th, 2005 in Journalism, Weblogs and Writing. 0 CommentsWith all this talk of blogs, wikis, podcasting and the "new media," sometimes it’s easy to forget that the overwhelming majority of people are still getting their info from time-tested "old media" sources, such as dead-tree newspapers. Tom Rouillard (via Tim Porter) has a fun post about a few of the things that make newspapers [...]
Does the Press Release Format Need to be Altered?
Published by August 18th, 2005 in Journalism, Public Relations and Writing. 3 CommentsTodd Defren cuts right to the point in his post, "Press Releases Suck," in which he writes about the standard press release format and how boring and stagnant it is. In principle, I agree with him. I’ve written my fair share of "standard" press releases, to be sure, and have had mixed success in getting [...]
