The Top 10 Blogs of 2024
Do the years speed up as we get older? Please tell me they do, because I can't believe this is the 9th year I've been recapping my best blogs of the year.
Perhaps calling them the "best" of the year isn't accurate. They're all good, but they're actually the ones that have been read the most in 2024.
A quick look at this top 10 shows some blogs about some old Edmonton media stories, annoying things about airlines and as usual, a lot about the news media.
10. Does the 5pm News Dump Still Work?
The 5pm News Dump is a classic way of trying to ease the pain of releasing bad news. Earlier this year, the City of Edmonton pulled it off nicely when it sent a social media post after 7pm announcing the departure of its City Manager. The news was too late to get into newspapers and on evening TV newscasts. In that respect, it worked. However, the media game has changed. With the emergence of social media, is the 5pm News Dump still an effective PR move?
9. The 3 Biggest Mistakes Made in Media Interviews
I’ve done media training for 16-years and have trained thousands of people. I like to believe if most had to do real media interviews right after my training they wouldn’t make these mistakes. Far too often I see people do interviews, who haven’t prepared properly and don’t lead the interview in the direction they should. And don’t get me started on the number of mistakes they make when they’re interviewed over video.
8. It Was a Garbage Decision, But That's Not the Point
For the second year in a row, this past February, Bell Media announced massive changes, leading to layoffs in CTV newsrooms across Canada. The cuts came just weeks after the annual Bell Let’s Talk campaign, which aims to bring mental health issues into the spotlight. Just a few weeks later, it laid off hundreds of media people. Nice. My point though was although everyone was talking about the cuts, few people were talking about the underlying reason – advertising dollars keep leaving traditional media and end up in digital media.
7. The Story of Jean Chretien and His Yellow Paving Machine
Maybe it was the time of the year? Maybe I was getting itchy for winter to end and I started telling stories from the past? Whatever the reason, two of the top blogs of the year were about stories from my media years many years ago. This one was about the time in the 1990’s when I was in charge of a photo opp involving then Prime Minister Jean Chretien. Everything turned out fine, but two hours before it was scheduled to begin, there were concerns about a possible bomb being planted in a road paving machine.
6. Hiring Pat Kiernan
In early March, I had breakfast with Pat Kiernan when he was in Edmonton. Pat is an incredible local success story, having moved from doing local radio and television news in Edmonton to hosting a morning news show on NY1 in New York for over 25-years. It all started for Pat when he attended an evening Radio News 101 course I was teaching. I hired him and he took it from there. This was the story of how we met.
5. Making Your Brand UltraBasic
This is the first of two blogs in a row about air travel. In June, WestJet announced its new UlltraBasic fares in response to competition from low-cost airlines. I pointed out the move did two things. It distorted WestJet’s lowest prices, and suddenly made Air Canada look like the good guy in the skies. By year’s end, Air Canada had announced similar changes, as the race to the bottom continues.
4. The 5 Most Annoying Air Travellers
I found writing this one therapeutic. Far too often I have sat on a plane ready to take off and wondered how people got such large carry-ons past airline personnel at the gate. I’ve actually marvelled at the antics of passengers from the time they got ready to board until they picked up their luggage after the flight. Picking my top 5 was difficult. It would have been easier to do a top 25.
3. The Big Media Conspiracy Theory
I noticed a trend on social media earlier this year where people were increasing posting comments wondering why the news media wasn’t covering certain stories about politicians and political parties. They suggested the media had an agenda by not reporting stories that would hurt somebody or some party politically. I compared it to a hockey telecast where fans of both teams accused the announcers of being biased.
2. Homeless, the Media and Mudslinging
As 2024 started, there was a bigger focus on the homeless population than ever before in Edmonton. That’s because police decided to shut down encampments across the city. The way politicians and others reacted to the move was interesting. Very few supported the move, but nobody wanted to criticize what police were doing. It was fascinating to watch the political posturing, while human lives were being turned upside down during the coldest part of the year.
1. A Four-Letter Word Called Fill
When I looked at the numbers and saw this blog had been read the most in 2024 I was surprised. I don’t remember it getting as much traction as it did. The blog detailed the way cable news and sports networks have far too much time to fill. There’s not enough news and sports to fill a 24/7 commitment, so most of the time is filled by people giving us their opinion. What once was a news network is now little more than opinion and maybe that’s why so many viewers now say they can’t trust the news media.
Happy Holidays
This is the last blog of mine for 2024. Thank you for reading and commenting and for being respectful when you did.
Enjoy the holiday season. Take some time for yourself and your family and I'll see you in 2025.
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