The Flack highlights changes and trends in the news, examples of communications practices, and content we at BYRNE PR thought you might find useful.
We hope you enjoy, and we always welcome your feedback.
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How MSNBC’s Leftward Tilt Delivers Ratings, And Complications – MSNBC has been leaning into its progressive take on nearly every political topic, and viewers are loving it. The network recently passed CNN in ratings, and the numbers keep going up. However, this is creating quite a bit of trouble for the network’s parent company, NBC. The New York Times digs into the conundrum.
The Collapse Of The News Industry Is Taking Its Soul Down With It – You’ve heard it before, news media are dying. Every day there are fewer daily newspapers, and the ratings for TV and radio news continue their steady decline. To make matters worse, journalism has lost something else … its swagger. There was a time when journalists were fearless and did not back down from controversy, but those days appear to be long gone. Politico takes a look at the death of journalistic swagger.
The Smartest People In The Room Are All Listening To The Same Podcast – Traditional news media may be dying, but there seems to be no end to the growth of podcasts. And it’s not just Joe Rogan and true crime. Business podcasts are exploding, and there’s one, in particular, that has the attention of the C-suite. The Wall Street Journal profiles the podcast all the smart people are listening to.
Why Writing By Hand Beats Typing For Thinking And Learning – Remember writing by hand? Neither do we. With the exception of grocery lists, Post-it notes and maybe, just maybe, holiday cards, most of us write by hand very infrequently. Kids no longer learn to write cursive and computers are being introduced as early as preschool. And what’s the harm, right? It’s just preparing kids for the modern world. But now a growing body of research suggests not writing by hand can have seriously negative consequences. NPR digs into the death of handwriting and the potential ramifications.
Columbia’s Student Journalists Produced New York Magazine’s Cover Story. Here’s How They Did It – It’s been an interesting semester on college campuses and particularly compelling for student journalists covering the protests. When New York magazine wanted to cover the protests at Columbia, they tapped into the Columbia Daily Spectator, the university’s student newspaper since 1877. CNN explains how students ended up producing the magazine’s cover story.
What’s On TV? For Many Americans, It’s Now YouTube – Eight years ago Google bought YouTube for $1.65 billion. It seemed like an insane amount of money. Today, YouTube is the largest streaming service, outpacing Netflix and everything else. In retrospect, it appears Google got one hell of a bargain. The Wall Street Journal takes a look at how YouTube has become the king of the stream.
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Feed Your Head:
The Art Of Asking Smarter Questions
The History Of Lowercase Letters
An Obit Worth Reading:
Roger Corman, Hollywood Mentor And ‘King Of The Bs,’ Dies At 98
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flack
: one who provides publicity
flack
: to act as a press agent or promoter for something
The word flack was first used as a noun meaning “publicity agent” during the late 1930s. According to one rumor, the word was coined in tribute to a well-known movie publicist of the time, Gene Flack.