The Sternberg Effect
joshsternberg
The power of social video
Today’s is a long one, as we dive into a few media theories. Apologies in advance. In his seminal book, “Amusing Ourselves to Death,” the scholar Neil Postman argued that as society moved to a post-typographic world to the Age of Television, it “dramatically and irreversibly shifted the content and meaning of public discourse, since … Continue reading
The reality TV president was in full effect last night
It’s hard right now to think about the business of the media after the president gave a dictatorial speech last night, outlining how he would “dominate” protesters by sending in the military. He staged a reality TV environment (I wrote some thoughts last night over at Medium; I didn’t want to send another newsletter last … Continue reading
When the brands come to protest
This has been a rough 72 hours. Our nation, once again, is being ripped at the seams. But it’s ok, because this time, the brands are here. Over the last several years, companies have shifted to what they call ‘brand purpose.’ It’s their reason to exist, beyond selling products or services. And they sell the … Continue reading
Journalists under siege
The rare Sunday column. But after watching my peers get shot at and arrested for doing their jobs, some thoughts popped into my head. I wanted to jot them down before I forgot. While the following isn’t about the business of media, there is a connection, loose though it may be, of how journalists are … Continue reading
The plight of the CMO
Hello and welcome to Friday, where by the time you read this, Twitter has taken a significant action against the President, flagging and hiding a tweet of his: And Minnesota police arrested Omar Jimenez, a CNN journalist who was reporting live, because they requested he move out of their way and said he did not. … Continue reading
Oh what a tangled web we weave
So I guess we’ll talk about the president’s Executive Order against social media? It all starts, like everything else these days, with a tweet: After the president tweeted this, Twitter introduced a new fact-check button, something that a growing chorus has been chanting about for years (less about the specific functionality, but more about the … Continue reading
The ongoing battle between PR and journalism
Two years ago, CNN got its hands on a promo script that Sinclair, the nation’s largest television broadcaster, made its anchors read, calling it an “anchor delivered journalistic responsibility message.” That message included concerns “about the troubling trend of irresponsible, one sided news stories plaguing our country. The sharing of biased and false news has … Continue reading
So how was your Memorial Day Weekend?
Hello, and welcome to Tuesday that’s actually a Monday—like any of us know what day it actually is. Also, hello new readers. Welcome to … whatever this is. In the before times, Memorial Day Weekend served as the unofficial start to the summer, as we get ready for nicer weather and summer Fridays. Personally, it’s … Continue reading
On the media business's cycle of wrong incentives
On Wednesday, we talked about how the RFP process is a waste of time for publishers, if not completely borked. But, there’s another side to this story, and in light of all the media layoffs (let alone the future of the business), it might be good to start having the conversation about the sell-side incentives. … Continue reading
The hollowing out of American journalism
Another 2.4 million Americans, our friends, our families, our neighbors, filed for unemployment for the first time this week. In the nine weeks since the self-isolation began, 38.6 million of us are unemployed. These are staggering numbers that only keep climbing. Yesterday, Variety published its annual ‘what media executives make’ and it’s quite the read, … Continue reading
Death to the RFP; Long live the RFP
In 2013, I watched Meredith Levien, then the chief revenue officer of Forbes (and now COO of the New York Times), give a presentation about the insanity of the transactional RFP, those lovely paper-pushing documents that spin sales teams’ wheels. She walked the audience through how Forbes got its revenue: 10 percent from programmatic; 45 … Continue reading
Getting your stuff back after you've been laid off
In mid-March, millions of workers started working from home, as businesses started to shut down in light of the pandemic spreading across the country. And over the last eight weeks, 36.5 million people found out that they’d not be returning to their offices. For me, that was Wednesday, March 11. That was the last time I … Continue reading
The return to creative?
Hello! Hope you all had as peaceful of a weekend as possible. When it comes to advertising in the coronavirus era, companies are caught between a rock and a hard place, trying to figure out the right tone, let alone the right time, to get back on the messaging wagon. On the one hand, they … Continue reading
The future of work: virtual reality
Hello and happy Friday! What. A. Week. Then again, we’ve been saying that basically every week for the last four years. First, a quick thank you. On Monday, I did what I normally do and posted some garbage on Twitter and LinkedIn about this newsletter. And then something weird happened. People responded. You responded. As … Continue reading
Layoffs and local journalism
There were 2.9 million Americans filing for unemployment for the first time this week, raising the total to 36.5 million unemployed since the beginning of the outbreak. This has been a tough week for the media world, as publications like Conde Nast and BuzzFeed, and agencies like VaynerMedia, Publicis and Weber Shandwick all laid off … Continue reading
Unnecessary Journalism Phrases
- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
