News changes daily. Always has, by definition.

But rarely – if ever – have the platforms, players and processes changed this much.

In the last decade, we’ve evolved from top-down monologues from NY, Washington and LA – to the ‘Wikinews’ of the internet, in which every blogger is a source with a global sounding board. We have tweeting, chirping and buzzing devices that keep us perpetually connected. Screens in elevators and above the urinals. Ubiquity is everywhere.

So – the newsroom of the future will have to reflect these radical developments. How? Three major characteristics:

(1) Pro-Am Team of Journalists. Newsrooms that ignore amateur and citizen journalists do so at their own risk. Stories break on Twitter, Youtube and Blogs every day. The challenge of the news organizations will be vetting and authenticating. It was the same issue a short time ago with TMZ. Journalists must recognize that tips and topics come from all corners. The most successful modern newsrooms will embrace the trend and find ways to include a variety of voices. In fact, it’s already happening with weather and sports video, and the op-ed page is full of citizen voices.  Bureaus run by student and retired journalists. Daddy bloggers. High School sports fans. They should all be able to contribute content. Smart newsrooms will become the ‘watering hole’ of media for the communities they serve.

(2) Mixed Media Storytelling. Each of us have unique and divergent appetites for media consumption. Journalists should understand and accommodate. Maybe I prefer to download a daily podcast and listen to the news during a morning walk. Maybe my daughter prefers to read a short article online. Maybe my mom still likes the 6pm news. Modern newsrooms will be able to narrate the latest news on multiple outlets, for multiple audiences. To some degree, this is already happening. In many cases, however, newsrooms only give lip service to the ‘supplemental’ channels and stay the course with the big, traditional platforms that have driven the revenue for decades. It’s time to recognize that the days of appointment TV and ink-on-paper are fading and the traditional business model will soon only be a small piece of the pie.

(3) Relevance. Make it matter. This is an OLD concept, but never more important. In an era of “shoot and show” journalism, it’s usually cheaper to shoot the crime scene, show it at 10pm, and worry about the impact later. But eventually the audience starts asking “what’s the point?”. The relevance piece has always been the hardest part of the puzzle. Does a raging fire 90 miles away from me really matter? Does the heinous murder three counties over really affect my life today? Does the weather in Haiti make a difference for me – now? Possibly. But only if the writers, reporters, editors and producers have the perspective and judgement to widen the scope and the skill to add real context.

Big Picture – what viewers & readers REALLY want is hyper-local news. What’s happening today in my ZIP code? In my kid’s school district? At my church or synagogue? Newsrooms of today will argue that they don’t have the resources to deliver this much targeted and geo-specific content. Newsrooms of the future will provide it.

Modern newsrooms – like the slick new look at KPBS in San Diego (photo) – will have to adopt all three characteristics. Not easy. But essential. Stay tuned.

Kodak filed for bankruptcy because – as we all know – the leadership failed to keep current.

Denied. Deleted. Diluted. Drummed out. Dumped.

The sheer volume of media content being pumped into the digital landscape today is immense. Most of it is drab, dull and weak. Consequently, we have been trained to ignore it. We automatically tune out.

We have become much better at excluding media than receiving it. We TiVO commercials, ignore print and outdoor ads and subscribe to satellite radio so that we don’t have to listen to those annoying 30-second spots. Right? Well OK. Not everybody. SOME of us still absorb SOME traditional media. But not nearly as many of us pay nearly as much attention. Most sophisticated marketing departments now develop ‘integrated’ marketing campaigns – which are a mix of old and new.

But my point today is that we are becoming neurologically numb to any media that is uninvited and / or unwanted. Psychologists today are talking about IFS – Information Fatigue Syndrome, and DAD – Divided Attention Disorder, and Cognitive Overload. I’m not kidding. These are real terms – coined to describe the disruptive influence of too much media. The brain simply can’t process the amount of information that floods our environment daily. So, we screen out most of it.

And we really only digest the media that arrives ‘by invitation only.’

Rudyard Kipling did it in 1892 with a story about a British soldier in India who learns a powerful lesson in courage and sacrifice through the example of a humble water bearer named Gunga Din.
It’s a rhyming ballad that challenges bigotry, racism and highlights the strength of the human spirit.
Every human being deserves to be treated humanely.

RKO made a movie with Cary Grant in 1939.

The last stanza is the most-frequently-quoted:
“Tho’ I’ve belted you and flayed you, By the livin’ Gawd that made you, You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din!”

And it remains a powerful teaching tool – even today.

On this federal holiday, I could make many points about the importance of equal rights and non-violence – the twin pillars of Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s philosophy.
I could point to the changing demographics of Texas – as evidenced by the Census. We are becoming a more blended society.
Or I could summon biology and get specific about DNA. We know now – more than ever – that all people are engineered out of nearly identical chemistry.
Perhaps I could talk about federal government and describe the legacy of Barbara Jordan, who will be honored this year with a postage stamp.
She was the first African-American woman elected to the Texas legislature, the first African-American elected to the Texas Senate since Reconstruction and the first African-American woman elected to Congress from the South. Jordan served three terms in Congress and knew MLK personally.

But none of that would stick, most likely.

A story grabs us. Rivets our thinking and – sometimes – changes our behavior.

Here’s one that I will tell my seven-year-old son:

(Taken mostly from Wikipedia:)
The year was 1955.
One bus ride changed history. One simple ride toward heroism and humanity.

Rosa Parks worked as a seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama.
The south was segregated and tensions were high in those days. Separate seats in movie theaters, separate drinking fountains, separate schools, and black citizens were expected to sit in the rear of all public buses.
On Thursday, December 1, Mrs. Parks was sitting on a city bus.
When a white man boarded the bus, the bus driver told everyone in her row to move back.
Parks refused, and was arrested.

Four days later, she was found guilty and fined $10 plus a court cost of $4, but she appealed.
African-American leaders organized the Montgomery Improvement Association to start a city-wide bus boycott as a means of protest.
They elected a young preacher named Martin Luther King to lead the effort.
He asked for a fixed dividing line in the segregated sections of the buses. It only meant that if the white section of the bus was full, whites would have to stand; blacks would not be forced to give up their seats.

A White Citizens’ Council developed to oppose the change.
Martin Luther King’s house was firebombed, as were four black Baptist churches. Boycotters were often physically attacked.

King served two weeks behind bars. The move brought national attention to the protest.
King later said: “I was proud of my crime. It was the crime of joining my people in a nonviolent protest against injustice.”

Pressure increased across the country and on June 4, 1956, the federal district court ruled that Alabama’s racial segregation laws for buses were unconstitutional.
On November 13, 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the district court’s ruling. This victory led to a city ordinance that allowed black bus passengers to sit virtually anywhere they wanted, and the boycott officially ended in December. The boycott of the buses had lasted for 381 days.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott reverberated throughout the United States and stimulated the national Civil Rights Movement.

It gave Martin Luther King, Jr. the national attention that made him one of the prime leaders of the cause.

It made Rosa Parks one of the pioneers of the civil rights movement.

Her bus ride changed history.

Her courageous bus ride.

Every human being deserves to be treated humanely.

See? Stories are better.

Here’s a little-known fact: in 1981, I won the Texas UIL Statewide Championship in Poetry Interpretation.
Yep. I did it by reciting a poem written in 1892. Gunga Din, by Rudyard Kipling.

Why?
The powerful pipes of Ted Williams, homeless radio announcer who’s become the year’s first YouTube rockstar of 2011.

In the unlikely event you haven’t heard, Mr. Williams was homeless earlier this week, hawking handouts on a Columbus highway. A self-confessed substance abuser and absentee dad, he had all but given up on his former career behind the microphone. That’s when a Columbus Dispatch videographer, on a whim, shot a clip of Williams using his golden baritone.

“When you’re listening to nothing but the best of oldies, you’re listening to Magic 98.9!”

The video went up on the Columbus dispatch website, then Youtube, and then PR “lightening” struck – as the short video drew millions of views. Viral pixie dust. It’s competely unpredictable. But amazing when it happens. Soon the Dispatch newsroom was fielding phonecalls for Williams, which led to local interviews, then a spot on the Today Show this week, then the offer from Kraft foods to provide the voice-over for the company’s iconic macaroni and cheese products tonight on ESPN.

Here’s a preview of the spot:

Kraft Mac & Cheese Ad w/ Ted Wilson Voice-Over

The company already had a mammoth publicity campaign surrounding it’s ‘Huddle to Fight Hunger’, an outreach to provide 20 million meals or more to a hunger relief organization. But this swift move has quickly dwarfed the rest of the positive pub in free mentions alone. (Was anyone planing to TiVo the Fight Hungar Bowl? Heck, had anyone even HEARD of the Fight Hunger Bowl – before Williams made media magic happen?) Kraft comes across as a company that cares, that is engaged in public discourse, that wants to do more than talk, and that is nimble and smart enough to do the right thing on short notice. Plus… every recent mention of Kraft is completely free of charge. What CMO wouldn’t be pumped over such a coup?
Williams recorded four TV spots – some of which will be seen during the Golden Globes next Sunday on NBC.

Kraft Brand Manager Noelle O

Understanding success is not hard nor is it hard to repeat once you

In recent studies I have conducted, major companies and organizations are still behind when it comes to using social media and the web to create brand awareness, brand recognition and brand loyalty. (Of course, not everyone is behind.) Based on case studies and research I