It takes a hero, sometimes, to make prayer acceptable.
The Denver Broncos' Tim Tebow will have no part of head butting and chest bumping when there's something to celebrate on the field. He kneels. And prays. And the fans love it.
His actions are being talked about, shared on line and copied. Seems “Tebowing” is a trend.
Can't say I'm sorry.
THE career coaching destination!
Monday, October 31, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
Good reporting has a Positive Image with news consumers. We just don't see enough of it!
I'm about to share some free story ideas here, because, quite frankly, they are needed.
Watching from the other side now as a news customer, I don't see enough value. I already saw the sports highlights on ESPN. I already got the forecast from weather.com on my mobile.
The majority of your audience isn't beating a spouse, making meth in the basement, joining gangs or stabbing each other on the light rail line. So why is nearly every story about those things?
Most of the audience can identify with one or all of these issues:
*Is worse off financially now than 12 months ago
*Is unemployed, underemployed or related to someone who is
*Received a notice in the past 12 months of a financial service that is going away or is soon to cost more
*Continued to make mortgage payments on time but has seen a 15 percent decline in their home value
*Experienced shock, disgust or anger at the conduct of political decision makers
*Got off the couch to get involved by commenting to public agencies, contributing to a cause or made a personal change because enough was enough
If you want to be the news outlet that makes a difference, be the jobs source, be the personal finance destination, expose stupid things (no shortage out there) and find solutions.
Here are some ideas:
*A Boston paper did a great story on how restaurant customers were not being served the fish they thought they were ordering. This presents all sorts of health and allergy risks, not to mention that no one should be charged $25 for a “flounder” dish that's really swain—a tasty but not so nutritious fish that sells for $3.99 a pound. The reporters collected samples from some high end restaurants and had a lab test the fish DNA. In times like these, news customers want to get what they pay for, and they want you to find the truth for them.
*Everyone is reporting on the Muslims who were fired for refusing to clock out of their car rental agency jobs for five prayer breaks a day. Dig deeper than getting a token interview with one representative of “the Muslim Community.” What would happen to you if you left to attend a church Mass without clocking out? What are typical employment policies for smoke breaks? For nursing moms? Are these uniformly enforced?
*Public overtime. You can get a database for any sector and effect change if you find abuse. You can ask that the agency just list the employee names and annual overtime payments for the past, say, 24 months. You can receive this file electronically and in just minutes, be able to scroll down the list and find who is getting the big payouts. Find a similar agency in another jurisdiction that is doing a better job controlling overtime.
*A lot has been said about the “Move your Money” and “Bank Transfer Day” movements. If you are not reporting daily on what's behind these causes, you're out of touch. Bank Transfer Day's Facefook page has been shared with over 350,000 fans. And it's less than a month old. You know the story. It was created by a 27 year old California woman. Have you done the math yet to see how much time and money, if any, customers would save leaving the big bank they're angry with? Follow a customer and show whether it's easy or difficult to make the switch.
*I'm a fan of police and 'behind the scenes in the crime lab” stories- but you can only do a couple of these a month before they are old, old, old. Look at safety equipment. Do the radios work? How old are the cars? How many cars have they wrecked and what's being done to better train them? You might even find they're sending too much on cars. My hometown police (Beaverton, OR) seem to have a few new, hot looking Camaros – unmarked. What's the need/benefit of that? They may be able to justify it but does anyone ever ask?
A few years back, advertisers and consultants sold news management on prioritizing the chase for a younger audience. This is even more laughable now than it was a few years ago, given how the economy has hit 20-30 somethings. But whatever the case management seems to believe the way to hook younger viewers is with younger hires. They come in the door with excellent technology skills and often with solid work ethics but many don't know how to get a substantive story. Here are some dues-paying steps to consider:
*Come to work an hour early to make some calls and file public information requests. Tell your assigning editors “hands off” until your shift starts today. You're investing. Get your boss to support this. An hour invested today will net results in about a week. Call every other day to see how your records request is coming along.
*Budget $25 a month of your own money for cultivating sources. Bring them a favorite coffee. Take them for a beer after work. Years ago when I was an assignment editor at WJW, a retiring crime reporter told the up-and-coming beat reporter some of this same stuff. He said, “Go to their weddings. Go to their funerals.” She did. That was only part of the reason she went on to become the city's best beat reporter, but it helped cultivate relationships.
*Pool resources. If you have a story you want to do that requires work in other cities or expensive lab tests, see if you can work with other outlets in your ownership group. Or, get your editor's help putting a group together. If everyone contributes just $100, it's likely to win budget approval.
Deadline's this evening? Editor too busy to work with you? No research help? Sharing a camera with a two-hour timetable? No money to run lab tests? Been there. I get it.
But we're talking about what's real today. How are you spending time on days when you have to wait for that camera? Are your days off so full that you can't invest some research time? I know unions hate it, but you have to invest in your career and that means giving up some personal time and resources. Forget about whether you get paid overtime – this is an investment in keeping your readers, viewers and online visitors.
Watching from the other side now as a news customer, I don't see enough value. I already saw the sports highlights on ESPN. I already got the forecast from weather.com on my mobile.
The majority of your audience isn't beating a spouse, making meth in the basement, joining gangs or stabbing each other on the light rail line. So why is nearly every story about those things?
Most of the audience can identify with one or all of these issues:
*Is worse off financially now than 12 months ago
*Is unemployed, underemployed or related to someone who is
*Received a notice in the past 12 months of a financial service that is going away or is soon to cost more
*Continued to make mortgage payments on time but has seen a 15 percent decline in their home value
*Experienced shock, disgust or anger at the conduct of political decision makers
*Got off the couch to get involved by commenting to public agencies, contributing to a cause or made a personal change because enough was enough
If you want to be the news outlet that makes a difference, be the jobs source, be the personal finance destination, expose stupid things (no shortage out there) and find solutions.
Here are some ideas:
*A Boston paper did a great story on how restaurant customers were not being served the fish they thought they were ordering. This presents all sorts of health and allergy risks, not to mention that no one should be charged $25 for a “flounder” dish that's really swain—a tasty but not so nutritious fish that sells for $3.99 a pound. The reporters collected samples from some high end restaurants and had a lab test the fish DNA. In times like these, news customers want to get what they pay for, and they want you to find the truth for them.
*Everyone is reporting on the Muslims who were fired for refusing to clock out of their car rental agency jobs for five prayer breaks a day. Dig deeper than getting a token interview with one representative of “the Muslim Community.” What would happen to you if you left to attend a church Mass without clocking out? What are typical employment policies for smoke breaks? For nursing moms? Are these uniformly enforced?
*Public overtime. You can get a database for any sector and effect change if you find abuse. You can ask that the agency just list the employee names and annual overtime payments for the past, say, 24 months. You can receive this file electronically and in just minutes, be able to scroll down the list and find who is getting the big payouts. Find a similar agency in another jurisdiction that is doing a better job controlling overtime.
*A lot has been said about the “Move your Money” and “Bank Transfer Day” movements. If you are not reporting daily on what's behind these causes, you're out of touch. Bank Transfer Day's Facefook page has been shared with over 350,000 fans. And it's less than a month old. You know the story. It was created by a 27 year old California woman. Have you done the math yet to see how much time and money, if any, customers would save leaving the big bank they're angry with? Follow a customer and show whether it's easy or difficult to make the switch.
*I'm a fan of police and 'behind the scenes in the crime lab” stories- but you can only do a couple of these a month before they are old, old, old. Look at safety equipment. Do the radios work? How old are the cars? How many cars have they wrecked and what's being done to better train them? You might even find they're sending too much on cars. My hometown police (Beaverton, OR) seem to have a few new, hot looking Camaros – unmarked. What's the need/benefit of that? They may be able to justify it but does anyone ever ask?
A few years back, advertisers and consultants sold news management on prioritizing the chase for a younger audience. This is even more laughable now than it was a few years ago, given how the economy has hit 20-30 somethings. But whatever the case management seems to believe the way to hook younger viewers is with younger hires. They come in the door with excellent technology skills and often with solid work ethics but many don't know how to get a substantive story. Here are some dues-paying steps to consider:
*Come to work an hour early to make some calls and file public information requests. Tell your assigning editors “hands off” until your shift starts today. You're investing. Get your boss to support this. An hour invested today will net results in about a week. Call every other day to see how your records request is coming along.
*Budget $25 a month of your own money for cultivating sources. Bring them a favorite coffee. Take them for a beer after work. Years ago when I was an assignment editor at WJW, a retiring crime reporter told the up-and-coming beat reporter some of this same stuff. He said, “Go to their weddings. Go to their funerals.” She did. That was only part of the reason she went on to become the city's best beat reporter, but it helped cultivate relationships.
*Pool resources. If you have a story you want to do that requires work in other cities or expensive lab tests, see if you can work with other outlets in your ownership group. Or, get your editor's help putting a group together. If everyone contributes just $100, it's likely to win budget approval.
Deadline's this evening? Editor too busy to work with you? No research help? Sharing a camera with a two-hour timetable? No money to run lab tests? Been there. I get it.
But we're talking about what's real today. How are you spending time on days when you have to wait for that camera? Are your days off so full that you can't invest some research time? I know unions hate it, but you have to invest in your career and that means giving up some personal time and resources. Forget about whether you get paid overtime – this is an investment in keeping your readers, viewers and online visitors.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Celebrating credit unions is nice work if you can get it...and I did!
I don't worry too much about people who kill the messenger. I am a spokesperson for credit unions.
Part of my job is to hate on the big banks. They keep making it so easy. I am also tasked with celebrating credit unions. That's pretty easy, too.
Think about it: credit unions have a Positive Image because of a track record demonstrating financial responsibility, giving consumers a voice through ownership – our consumers are “members” – community service – Credit Unions for Kids funds children's hospitals across the county, and the organization was founded right here in Oregon and Southwest Washington – and teaching financial literacy to 8th graders – BizKid$ was founded in Washington with credit union donations.
Credit unions are not-for-profit. Instead of paying dividends to greedy Wall Street stockholders, we pay back the members – most of our credit unions still offer free checking and free debit cards. Our members don't have to drive around looking for a branch; most of our credit unions are networked so members can deposit or withdraw from thousands and thousands of credit union ATM s across the county. Did I mention that's free? Some of them even reward you with gifts for using your debit card. Need a car loan? Chances are you interest rate is better at a credit union.
We don't pay a fat-cat board of directors. Our boards are all volunteer, every last one of them. I read in the Portland Business Journal recently that people who sit on two local bank boards are getting between $40,000 and $70,000 per year, in addition to salaries from their real jobs, for being on a bank board. No wonder bank customers pay $20.00 a month for checking accounts. LOL.
Taxpayer bailouts? Not here. Our credit unions, as not-for-profit institutions, are not eligible. So on the pretty rare occasion that a credit union isn't going to make it, the other credit unions step up. Most of the time, member service is not interrupted. We pay for our own insurance fund, too. Our accounts, like those deposited in big banks, are generally insured up to $250,000. Congress writes check to the FDIC, but not to us.
“For the most part, credit unions did not make really stupid decisions,” Michael Barr recently said to a group of Northwest credit union leaders as he recalled the irresponsible bank actions that led to the recession. Barr was hired by the Treasury to write the Dodd-Frank legislation designed to reform Wall St. You can certainly argue that it's not working the way it was intended to – it resulted in 20,000 pages of regulations our industry struggles with, some of which keep us so busy, we can't have as much member focus as we'd like. The audience appreciated Barr's insight but I can't say there's much buy in to the over-regulation engulfing our credit unions. We were painted with the same brush that was supposed to remodel big banks.
One of the consequences of Dodd-Frank is a rule limiting the fees retailers pay every time a consumer uses a debit card to make a purchase. It's called a “swipe fee.” On average, card issuers were getting .40 for transactions, and that's been cut in half for institutions with assets of over $10 billion. That's the impetus or maybe the excuse for Bank of America's “economic suicide” decision to start charging its customers $60.00 per year for debit card privileges. It doesn't affect most credit unions – yet – because of our asset size. But here's why we fought that rule: we urged Congress at the time to stop and study the impact it would have on the public. We doubted merchants would refund any of the debit card swipe fees to shoppers. And we just knew it would force some financial institutions to start charging those same shoppers for debit card services. So they'd end up paying for debit card services twice: once at the cash register and again in monthly fees.
Debit cards are preferred by shoppers who don't want to carry cash or pay to write checks. Offering them is a great service to consumers and a real benefit for retailers.
Here's a fact the public may not know about the swipe fees. They pay for the expense of offering debit cards. That includes the insurance that protects consumers from fraudulent purchases. It also includes the cost of re-issuing cards after a breach. One of our Northwest credit union CEO s reported that the breach on Michaels' craft store customers alone, cost his credit union $200,000 to fix.
We fell 12 votes short of winning the argument on swipe fees. With no research or consumer impact study, the Senate voted to immediately enforce the so-called interchange rule. In fact, all four of our Northwest Senators voted against consumers. Now our worst fears are coming to fruition. Just ask Bank of America customers.
What do you think would happen, if the next time you buy something with a debit card, you asked the cashier to give you back the 20-cents his store is saving?
I am not siding with the big banks. They're clearly deciding that rather than absorbing the lost fees by cutting board compensation or stockholder dividends, they'll take it back from the same public that bailed them out.
I am instead calling on Congress for more thoughtful regulation.
Given their track record, I don't think we'll see any change overnight. But credit unions will maintain a Positive Image and you can benefit. Credit unions are a smarter choice for consumers. Not all offer the same services, but chances are, there is one near where you live or work that will offer exactly what you want. Log onto www.asmarterchoice.org and find the one that fits.
Welcome. We want you.
Part of my job is to hate on the big banks. They keep making it so easy. I am also tasked with celebrating credit unions. That's pretty easy, too.
Think about it: credit unions have a Positive Image because of a track record demonstrating financial responsibility, giving consumers a voice through ownership – our consumers are “members” – community service – Credit Unions for Kids funds children's hospitals across the county, and the organization was founded right here in Oregon and Southwest Washington – and teaching financial literacy to 8th graders – BizKid$ was founded in Washington with credit union donations.
Credit unions are not-for-profit. Instead of paying dividends to greedy Wall Street stockholders, we pay back the members – most of our credit unions still offer free checking and free debit cards. Our members don't have to drive around looking for a branch; most of our credit unions are networked so members can deposit or withdraw from thousands and thousands of credit union ATM s across the county. Did I mention that's free? Some of them even reward you with gifts for using your debit card. Need a car loan? Chances are you interest rate is better at a credit union.
We don't pay a fat-cat board of directors. Our boards are all volunteer, every last one of them. I read in the Portland Business Journal recently that people who sit on two local bank boards are getting between $40,000 and $70,000 per year, in addition to salaries from their real jobs, for being on a bank board. No wonder bank customers pay $20.00 a month for checking accounts. LOL.
Taxpayer bailouts? Not here. Our credit unions, as not-for-profit institutions, are not eligible. So on the pretty rare occasion that a credit union isn't going to make it, the other credit unions step up. Most of the time, member service is not interrupted. We pay for our own insurance fund, too. Our accounts, like those deposited in big banks, are generally insured up to $250,000. Congress writes check to the FDIC, but not to us.
“For the most part, credit unions did not make really stupid decisions,” Michael Barr recently said to a group of Northwest credit union leaders as he recalled the irresponsible bank actions that led to the recession. Barr was hired by the Treasury to write the Dodd-Frank legislation designed to reform Wall St. You can certainly argue that it's not working the way it was intended to – it resulted in 20,000 pages of regulations our industry struggles with, some of which keep us so busy, we can't have as much member focus as we'd like. The audience appreciated Barr's insight but I can't say there's much buy in to the over-regulation engulfing our credit unions. We were painted with the same brush that was supposed to remodel big banks.
One of the consequences of Dodd-Frank is a rule limiting the fees retailers pay every time a consumer uses a debit card to make a purchase. It's called a “swipe fee.” On average, card issuers were getting .40 for transactions, and that's been cut in half for institutions with assets of over $10 billion. That's the impetus or maybe the excuse for Bank of America's “economic suicide” decision to start charging its customers $60.00 per year for debit card privileges. It doesn't affect most credit unions – yet – because of our asset size. But here's why we fought that rule: we urged Congress at the time to stop and study the impact it would have on the public. We doubted merchants would refund any of the debit card swipe fees to shoppers. And we just knew it would force some financial institutions to start charging those same shoppers for debit card services. So they'd end up paying for debit card services twice: once at the cash register and again in monthly fees.
Debit cards are preferred by shoppers who don't want to carry cash or pay to write checks. Offering them is a great service to consumers and a real benefit for retailers.
Here's a fact the public may not know about the swipe fees. They pay for the expense of offering debit cards. That includes the insurance that protects consumers from fraudulent purchases. It also includes the cost of re-issuing cards after a breach. One of our Northwest credit union CEO s reported that the breach on Michaels' craft store customers alone, cost his credit union $200,000 to fix.
We fell 12 votes short of winning the argument on swipe fees. With no research or consumer impact study, the Senate voted to immediately enforce the so-called interchange rule. In fact, all four of our Northwest Senators voted against consumers. Now our worst fears are coming to fruition. Just ask Bank of America customers.
What do you think would happen, if the next time you buy something with a debit card, you asked the cashier to give you back the 20-cents his store is saving?
I am not siding with the big banks. They're clearly deciding that rather than absorbing the lost fees by cutting board compensation or stockholder dividends, they'll take it back from the same public that bailed them out.
I am instead calling on Congress for more thoughtful regulation.
Given their track record, I don't think we'll see any change overnight. But credit unions will maintain a Positive Image and you can benefit. Credit unions are a smarter choice for consumers. Not all offer the same services, but chances are, there is one near where you live or work that will offer exactly what you want. Log onto www.asmarterchoice.org and find the one that fits.
Welcome. We want you.
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