Say it Better

State of Shock

"My goal is to goad people into saying something that ruins their life," Don Imus is quoted as having said, leading the way for other shock jocks to follow. Next month a “whistleblower” of a book comes out, writes Howard Zinn, called Shock Jocks: Hate Speech and Talk Radio.

It’s about America's ten worst hate talkers, the huge profits in that hate industry, how the tide may be turning – and what you can do to help. In the “often factually challenged world of talk radio” they include Bill O'Reilly, Don Imus, Laura Ingraham (the only woman mentioned) and Michael Savage.

Savage, actually got positive comments from callers when he made this vile comment on the radio: "Wolf Blitzer, a Jew who was born in Israel, is probably the most despicable man in the media next to Larry King .... The two of them together look like the type that would have pushed Jewish children into the oven to stay alive one more day to entertain the Nazis." Brave New Films launched a campaign for advertisers to drop him.

Last month two other shock jocks here in California, openly tried to taint a jury. Two others, Howard Stern and Tom Leykis have huge audiences and make millions a year according to co-authors, Rory O’Connor and Aaron Cutler. Because of free speech protections, the FCC can do little, yet you can, as this book points out. All ten cross the line into racist, sexist, homophobic and xenophobic comments. Yet some get hoisted on their own petard. Apparently, so called, “macho radio attracts the listeners that advertisers like--men ages 25 to 44."

Keep free speech and keep boycotting the advertisers that sponsor shock jocks’ “programs” and tell them (and the stations) why. Support stations that draw the line. Charities: know what you may (unwittingly) be supporting. In a civil society that’s our most powerful choice.

Here's a clever new tool to launch your boycott. At The Point invite like-minded people to join your campaign.

Offer What the Media Needs to Cover Your Story

Want to become your kind of media’s favorite subject matter expert?

Read ten tips with links to real life examples to become catnip for that media to quote you. Thank you Nancy Schwartz for this pithy, spot-on top ten list. Although Nancy is writing for those who run non-profits the suggestions work just as well for any business, government agency, special activity group, club, professional association or soloist. As a former journalist I heartily agree with her approach.

I’d add these suggestions:

• Provide an online list of the kinds of timely and timeless stories where your expertise could be helpful.

• Make your contact information for the media very easy to find throughout your web site, blog, online social network or other kind of Internet presence.

• Make a guarantee as to how swiftly you will respond to someone working under deadline.

• Provide a captioned album of photographs, graphs, diagrams and other images from the activities and other background on your topic. (My addition to tip number two.)

• Provide a list of related organizations and other resources so you become the “go to” site for your category of media coverage.

Intrigued? Then read her excellent suggestions to “Make the Most of Media Queries” and “Make it Easy for Online Readers to Spread the Word.”

Droll Writing That Jabs. Dan Pink's Favorite ...

column of the year and mine. With much of today's TV "news" there is no room for parody. Paradoxically that's why so many turn to late night comics for the unvarnished truth, told humorously.

Create Video Vignettes That Capture Hearts & Minds

From capturing scenes of Burma protests to college keggers, “user-created” video has gone viral via YouTube and other sites. No news there. Yet this may be the most sweeping cultural change we have seen in the past few years.

For disgust or inspiration you can find something on video. Almost any action, anywhere, can and has been captured on still or video footage. Some of the most captivating vignettes are those created by professional filmmakers.

Brad Inman recruited them from around the world to cover the people stories of neighborhoods, cities and more. Now, with over 3,000 independent filmmakers, his firm TurnHere, is capturing the stories for firms as diverse as hoteliers (local concierges’ inside insights about what makes their city special) and publishers (the back stories of authors and their books).

Would you like explore ways you could use video to tell the story of your business, cause, club, family, other special interest – or you? If you live in the San Francisco Bay area, perhaps you’d like to hear Brad Inman in conversation with me at The Commonwealth Club of California. The date is Wednesday, November 7. Join us at 5:30 p.m. for the reception and join in the conversation at 6:00 p.m.

“Nearly all of the takers were women

...who were ‘eager and grateful’ for the freebies" reports wrote NPR’s Eric Weiner. Yet, the “men ‘frowned in suspicion, or distaste.’”

Guess what was being given away?

Maybe some of us have more time on our hands, considering this dour news from Microtrends authors Mark J. Penn and E. Kinney Zalesne.

Up close see bullets ripping …

… through a glass of milk, a watermelon and other familiar objects in the dramatic slow-motion style of the movie, The Matrix. It is a grotesquely beautiful view of bullets at 10,000 frames per second exploding at these everyday "targets."

Imagine what happens when a bullet hits a head.

Get inspired about how to grab attention for your cause, idea or business. See this new one-minute video that delivers a stop-you-in-your-tracks, anti-gun violence message to television viewers in the UK.

Kudos to the creators, AMV BBDO and Therapy Films. They used the remarkable Phantom camera that was also used in the Nike Golf and Tiger Woods “Swing Portrait” spot.

This spot, “Stop the bullets. Kill the gun.” has sparked debate, of course.

Hat tip to Very Short List.

"... licking, gesturing, and doing absolutely deplorable things with produce"

...complains Eric Claus, CEO of the grocery store chain A&P when announcing what astute Shel Holtz describes as "single remarkably stupid legal action." You see two young brothers who worked at the store did not dangerously "Go postal." Go video is the ritual of their age group. So, yes, they filmed themselves acting like the testosteone-fueled teenage boys that they are, playing with produce in front of the store, when no one was around. And yes their video is "raunchy" ... and funny to some (not me). Yet few people noticed their homage to gangsta rap on YouTube until CNN interviewed the brothers, the store heard about it, then sued them. Stirred up a cause?

What would you do if an inane, downright stupid or - worse yet - funny video about your organization was posted on YouTube? In a lesson for all company leaders, Shel describes how the grocery chain may make enemies out of the situation rather than making friends and attracting positive media coverage. Also, he suggests how a competitor could turn the incident to their advantage.

New way to make a quick pitch for money

Get a friend to grab a camera to video you making your pitch for funding for your business via vatortv. Or to find the right management team or other work need. You’ve got just three minutes. No more. But some smart and successful venture capitalists and angel investors are backing this site. They may click to see you. And, of course, Bambi may interview you. These videos are helpful and sometimes even fun to watch if you want to hone your elevator pitch for anything. (Thanks again Liesbeth).

Ready to Re-Shape Your Self-Image? Get Simpsonized.

If you want to become part of The Simpson family how would Matt Groening draw your portrait? Dare to find out how dorky you can look right now. Yes, because of a SmartPartnership tie-in to attract big crowds to the movie’s debut on July 27th, you, too, can get Simpsonized. See jaundiced Linda Tischler.

Odd Simpsons tie-in motto though, “Turn the world yellow with Burger King.” Now does that make you want to leap into your car and drive over for a “yellow” fast food snack?

For more fun with modified reality see what restless and creative graphics designers do on their break.

Then view a spectacularly quick, animated and morphing view of modern art, from van Gogh to Picasso to Warhol. See Joan C. Gratz’s Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase.

Perhaps you'll be tempted to see her downward-facing frog before you return to your regular life - away from your computer screen.

Might as Well Laugh at Politics

You can get angry, outraged, inspired and involved at other political web sites. But, now you can also laugh (hysterially?) at the national sitcom that is our looooong campaign period before the election of the next U.S. president. Visit Indecision2008, Comedy Central's new site to spoof this scene. See clips from “Lil’ Bush,” “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report.” Read the anonymous (for now) blog by The InDecider. Today, for example, you can become informed, "On Family Feud, The Dem Family takes the round by correctly guessing the most popular Senate answers to the question, 'Why I voted for a war that I disagreed with.'" Find "approximate honesty" there and add your humor at forums and elsewhere.