By Steve Rhodes
The mainstream media discovers Tamale Guy.
Sigh.
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He’s on Yelp too.
Two-Faced
Daley to police officers who want more money in tight times: Get real.
Daley to Pat Quinn about his budget because he wants more money in tight times: “We get no benefit. They why should anyone be for it?”
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Okay, I couldn’t quite get those lines to “agree” stylistically, but you get the point.
KFChicago
From Beachwood Nation citizen Trecia Scott: Will potholes also taste like chicken?
Chicago-oply
“Chicago-In-a-Box – the Monopoly board game with Windy City favorites – is getting a makeover,” the Sun-Times reports.
It was called Chicago-In-a-Box? Sort of like this?
“‘We are actually in the process of revising the Chicago-In-A-Box game. It will now be called Chicago-opoly’ said Carla Miller, an official for Cincinnati-based Late for the Sky, the game’s marketer.”
Um, if they do Clout Cards like ours I’m calling a lawyer.
High School Musical
From time immemoriam, right-thinking teenagers have learned the hard way that adults are the enemy. And this is particularly true in schools where administrators don’t allow dancing or fancy themselves as newspaper publishers.
If Stevenson High School students don’t find a venue to publish their work, they are welcome here at the Beachwood.
Kern Burn
When your editor sends out a memo addressing you as a “fellow owner,” you are being treated as if you are still in high school.
Taxing Times
Maybe the Sun-Times can get out from under its tax burden by joining the Obama administration.
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Okay, I know the logic doesn’t quite follow, but I just couldn’t find the line.
Democracy Abroad
“In one of the funniest proposals I’ve heard in years, Gov. Pat Quinn’s Illinois Reform Commission has suggested that the state’s Open Meetings Act apply to the Legislature,” Phil Kadner writes in the SouthtownStar today.
Yarnbombing
Knit graffiti is here.
Ad Review
“Reckitt-Benckiser to Shift $20 Million to Web From TV Decision Driven by Need for More-Efficient Ad Rates,” Ad Age reports.
“The company plans to shift an estimated $20 million in TV ad dollars to the web for more than 15 of its brands, including Lysol, Air Wick, Mucinex, Finish and Clearasil. The strategic shift is significant for the company, which has traditionally spent upward of 90% of its $475 million measured-media budget on TV, and less than $1 million in measured spending on the web in 2008, according to TNS Media Intelligence. Even though its 2008 internet advertising through the first half was already double its full-year internet spending in 2007, it was still only 1% of media spending.”
So a lot of room for growth.
Investigative Review
“The University of Connecticut violated NCAA rules in the recruitment of former guard Nate Miles, a six-month investigation by Yahoo! Sports has found.”
That’s right. A six-month investigation by Yahoo! Sports.
Business Models
I really wish journalists reporting on the shifting media landscape would do their homework. On what basis have they formed their tired judgement that no one is making money on the Internet and the necessary business models have yet to be found?
At the infamous Chicago Journalism Town Hall meeting, Columbia College’s Barbara Iverson began citing the eight business models she has found on the Web and was cut off by moderator Ken Davis, who said “You’re overwhelming us.”
Northwestern University media maven Rich Gordon also has a list of business models that he has observed work on the Web.
And, you know, you just have to look around. Maybe read industry publications – not really the journalism industry publications, because they’re still busying themselves with the inverted pyramid. But there’s a lot out there about new media and the tone is far different than what you find coming out of our dreary traditional newsrooms.
So it was more than aggravating when Elizabeth Brackett asked the same questions of her otherwise fine media panel last night on Chicago Tonight that I’ve seen her ask before. Maybe the problem is that this is a business story more than anything else and, let’s face it, most journalists don’t know a whit about business. When they talk about business models and revenue streams, they’re just repeating what they saw somewhere in . . . the Tribune.
One question in particular really struck me. It was about the emergence of foundation funding of news organizations. “But don’t foundations have points of view?” Brackett asked.
As opposed to Sam Zell, Conrad Black, Colonel McCormick and Gannett’s shareholders? C’mon!
Geoff Dougherty of the Chi-Town Daily News was particularly well-positioned to answer that one: he’s funded in part with money from the Knight Foundation. As in the old Knight-Ridder newspaper chain – the one that was once dedicated to newspaper excellence. Brackett didn’t seem to know that. If Knight has an agenda, I’ll take it.
And besides, who does she think pays her salary?
Olympiganda
“Chicago officials like their leadoff spot on a tour of Olympic honchos who will descend on the city this week before heading to the other three finalist cities hoping to host the 2016 Summer Games,” the Sun-Times reports.
The Sun-Times also had a story ready that said “Chicago officials like going last on a tour of Olympic honchos” just in case.
After all, the story’s headline is “We’re In 1st Place On Tour Schedule.”
We?
You think the Sun-Times has an agenda?
“‘We’d rather be first than last. We can help set the bar as high as we want to,’ [Pat] Ryan told the Chicago Sun-Times editorial board Tuesday.
“The tour of four cities ‘is grueling,’ Ryan said.
“‘They’re here six days and then they’re home for a few days then they’re out again. So by the time of the fourth one, they’re going to be pretty tired, just physically. . . . There’s an advantage to the freshness’.”
Riiiight. It’s a lot better to go first than to watch what your competitors do and trump them with a finishing flourish your guests will remember.
“Ed Hula, editor of the Around the Rings Web site, agrees: ‘The first event is usually a pretty upbeat affair’.”
Hula was also prepared to speak about the advantages of going last too, I’m sure.
Just because Pat Ryan visits your editorial board (small enough to meet in a Volkswagen these days; are you allowed to call three people a board?) and says it, you don’t have to print it. Nor believe it.
Beachtastic
* Maxwell Street Malfeasance. Featuring correspondence from Ald. Bob Fioretti.
* Lobby Wars. There are more than 1,500 professional lobbyists paid to influence Illinois government.
* White Sox Academy: Hands at Launch. Hit like they do.
* 24 Hours With The Hallmark Channel. Golden heaven.
* Trivial Pursuit. Rush, MC Hammer, and Ludacris.
NBCtastic
* Political Fools. The pranks they’ll play today.
* The Monsters of Midway Games. Getting the AIG treatment.
* Illinois’s Movie Bailout. Blago’s last act.
Stoolie
Driving drunk is not funny, but this is.
The Beachwood Tip Line: Motorin’.
Posted on April 1, 2009