The legal industry faces a gathering storm of financial, demographic and economic forces. In an effort to illuminate the risks and opportunities those forces present, our 2018 Legal Industry Outlook curates multiple studies, surveys and white papers into a single, easy-to-read package.
A big shout out to Citi Private Bank; Altman Weil; Hildebrandt Consulting; Major, Lindsay & Africa; Reuters Legal Institute; Georgetown Law; and Oxford University SAID Business School. Their insights on the acceleration of change and disruption sweeping the legal industry were nothing short of invaluable.
Click here to view the full 2018 Legal Industry Outlook.
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When Collins American Dictionary announced that “fake news” was its word of 2017, it defined the seemingly ubiquitous term as “false, often sensational, information disseminated under the guise of news reporting.” Collins also noted that usage of the term increased 365 percent since 2016.
Fake news has also been described as a threat to democracy, and experts worry about the negative influence it might have on the next generation of Americans who struggle to understand the difference between fact and fiction.
While the trend is something that should concern just about everyone, it’s especially important for public relations professionals to avoid shrugging fake news off as just the latest buzzword driven by political rhetoric. At Greentarget, we’re paying close attention to the topic – and we’re passionate about doing all we can to firm up faith in the media as legitimate sources of information.
Whether legitimate sources will be once again be embraced as credible is an open question – one on which experts are essentially split, according to a Pew Research study. The pessimists worry that “manipulative actors will use new digital tools to take advantage of humans’ inbred preference for comfort and convenience and their craving for the answers they find in reinforcing echo chambers.” The optimists believe that “the speed, reach and efficiencies of the internet, apps and platforms will be harnessed to rein in fake news and misinformation campaigns.”
We can’t predict the future, but we agree with the optimists in the Pew study. And we have the following predictions about how the fake news pandemic will diminish in the coming years:
2018: The Year of the Source
A recent assertion from some PR industry leaders that media relations is dead is something we wholeheartedly disagree with — and we’ll go a step further. In the fake news era, media relations is more important than ever. Forbes’ contributor Jade Faugno summed up our thoughts on this topic perfectly:
The stigma of “fake news” may cling to the popular consciousness for several years to come, but sophisticated audiences will continue to hold fast to reliable sources, which will only further demonstrate their value in a growing sea of misinformation.
Although the relationship between journalism and media relations is often cast as adversarial, our experiences with reporters show that they are dedicated – even desperate – when it comes to publishing stories that are factual and have reputable spokespeople who add value. We also believe executives will continue to view the news media as valuable and credible. In Greentarget’s 2017 State of Digital & Content Marketing Survey, 95 percent of respondents said traditional sources like The Wall Street Journal and The Economist were the most credible sources of news – despite the fake news trend.
When it Comes to the News, Education Matters
“Young people’s ability to reason about the information can be summed up in one word: bleak.” That’s according to the authors of the Stanford University study that looked at whether middle school, high school and college students could decipher legitimate news from fake news. Lead author Sam Wineburg told NPR that “educational programs are the only way we can deal with these kinds of issues.” In a hopeful sign, some universities are now building news literacy classes into their curriculum.
At Greentarget, we also believe it’s crucial to educate the next generation of Americans about how to differentiate fact from fiction. That’s why we’re offering financial support to the News Literacy Project (NLP), a nonprofit dedicated to teaching middle and high school students how to use the standards of journalism to determine what information they should trust, share and act on. Count us as strong supporters of NLP’s focus to enlighten young Americans about the role of honest media in our democracy.
Technology and Innovation Can Help
As noted above, the evolution of technology was the top reason for optimism among respondents to the Pew study. We agree – but we also acknowledge that much work needs to be done amid rays of hope.
Late last year, it was reported that a group of college students designed a plug-in called Open Mind, designed to prevent false news. Created during a hackathon competition at Yale University, the plug-in works as a Chrome extension that uses sentiment analysis technology to analyze articles for bias – and steers users to alternative sources. The app’s creators will meet with members of Congress this spring, and Facebook, which was one of the sponsors of the competition, is interested in talking to the students as part of its ongoing work to address fake news.
One way leading technology companies, including Facebook and Google, are working to address fake news is through partnerships with fact-checking organizations. While it’s too early to evaluate how Google’s partnership is going, the efficacy of Facebook’s partnerships has been met with some criticism. Aaron Sharockman, executive editor of Politifact, a member of the coalition of fact-checkers who agreed to work with Facebook, addressed some speed bumps. “The reality is, there is too much content for us to check, and we imagine there is plenty more material in need of fact-checking that we aren’t seeing,” said Sharockman in an analysis that captures how complicated the fake news problem is.
At Greentarget, it’s in our DNA to direct smarter conversations and to support the core principles of journalism. We’re hopeful that through our ability to deliver credible sources to journalists, support efforts to help the younger generation tell the difference between fact and fiction, and advocate for innovation taking place to curb fake news, we can do our part in finding a solution to this complicated issue.
We wouldn’t hesitate to call fake news a pandemic – one that needs to be combatted to ensure the health of our democracy. Here’s hoping the top word of 2018 will be “legitimate news source.”
In 2017, as the popularity of podcasts continued its incredible growth – 42 million Americans now listen to a podcast each week and the average podcast fan listens to five shows every seven days – we had the fascinating experience of producing and launching podcasts for some of our clients.
One such project was the ThinkSet Podcast, published by Berkeley Research Group, a management consultancy based in the Bay Area. BRG joins a list of innovative corporate communicators getting into the game.
As we work on more and more podcasts, we’ve learned a lot about storytelling in the digital age. Much of what has worked in more traditional business-to-business communications remains relevant. But there are quite a few wrinkles to podcasting that set it apart from traditional content production.
The ThinkSet Project
Edward Newland, business development analyst at BRG, reached out to us in early 2017 about launching a podcast as a sister product to ThinkSet Magazine, a quarterly publication BRG would debut that spring. Newland’s idea was to build each episode around an interview with an author of one of the magazine articles.
We worked with Eddie to determine standing elements of the show – format, music, regular introductory and closing remarks – and showed him how to distribute the series via iTunes and other podcast channels. Before long we were producing two episodes a month, and we plan to do the same through 2018.
Early Assets, Obstacles
Importantly, Eddie’s idea was a good fit for a podcast. He would serve as the host role and anchor – a hallmark of many popular podcasts (think Marc Maron) – and the content from the magazine would provide fodder for lively and informed conversations with people who had deep knowledge and strong points of view.
Eddie also had done his homework about why a podcast could resonate with BRG’s audiences. At a time when breaking through the noise and reaching decision makers has never been more important, or difficult, for professional services organizations, podcasts offer a compelling channel. Podcast listeners, according to Edison Research, are typically more educated than the population at large. They also skew younger – 77 percent of monthly podcast listeners above the age of 12 are between 18-54, compared with 59 percent of the U.S. population in that age range. In other words, podcasts are popular with the current and future generations of decision makers.
And, of course, podcasts provide an owned-media alternative to the printed word or video, which is expensive and heavily reliant on visuals. Podcasts also offer a sort of escape for audiences, like busy executives, who might be experiencing screen fatigue. As Jayson DeMers, founder and CEO of AudienceBloom, wrote in Forbes last year:
“Exciting at first, screens have become exhausting for many users, and podcasts represent a refreshing alternative. Rather than using your eyes, you use your ears; there are silences, pauses, and genuine human voices rather than words and images on a screen.” He also noted that “the cost-to-value ratio for podcasts is incredibly low.”
When Eddie first reached out to us, he had figured out something we had been telling clients for a while: Compelling video footage of thought leaders at professional services firms is hard to get, and often amounts to little more than a lot of people sitting at desks, talking into the camera.
Podcasts also helped avoid a scheduling problem that’s common in today’s world. Eddie’s potential guest list was spread around the globe, so getting them together for a video would be unlikely. Podcasts, of course, don’t rely on video. And while in-studio/in-person recordings remain the gold standard for audio quality, there have been some important advances in remote recording audio quality in recent years.
Employing a new online recording platform, Eddie has recorded episodes of the ThinkSet podcast from his Boston office, interviewing guests across the United States, the United Kingdom and the Middle East, all of which is captured by Greentarget producers in Chicago (and, once, in Bangkok).
Tried-and-True Methods
Most of the content we create for Greentarget clients takes the form of writing on a page (blogs, research reports, bylined articles, etc.). But many of the tasks involved carry over to podcasting. For BRG’s podcasts, we conduct extensive background research prior to each episode. Then, we have a discovery call with Eddie and each episode’s guests. This is similar to the work that goes into writing articles and blog posts.
The editing process is also similar. We typically record for up to an hour, with the aim of producing a podcast of 20-25 minutes. Working with Eddie, we pare down the recording to the most impactful and interesting pieces of audio that also coincide with BRG’s overall messaging goals. This is quite similar to the work we do with clients on written content pieces.
Episode 10 of ThinkSet went live this week, and we’re expecting three episodes to be released this month. This isn’t the only way to do podcasts, of course, but it is a good example of a progressive company seizing on new technology and audience behavior to get its insights in the hands of the people it wants to reach.
Stephen Joyce, a Bloomberg BNA staff correspondent, covers regulatory, statutory and enforcement developments involving energy and environment, health care, privacy and the business of law in four Midwestern states. As such, he’s no stranger to getting pitched by PR professionals.
But in a recent conversation with the Greentarget team, Joyce said just 25 percent of the pitches he receives are useful – and he provided some guidance on how he thinks media relations professionals can improve.
“Ask yourself: Do you have something to say?” Joyce said. “Who do you want to say it to? From there, figure out what news organization or product or whatever reaches those people, and then figure out who the journalists are in that space.”
In a wide-ranging conversation, Joyce spoke to the Greentarget team about how the media environment has evolved over the past 20 years, and his mantra as a reporter with Bloomberg: Factual, Fastest, Final, First and Future. What follows is a summary of his remarks, edited for length and clarity.
What excites you most about being a journalist?
It can be exciting, but it’s also dull. For example, one day I’m writing about an explosion at a Wisconsin grains mill, another day it’s just a new law, new rule, etc. Being a journalist isn’t always running around chasing a big story.
How has your work as a reporter evolved over the last 20 years?
One word: technology. I learned news writing on a typewriter in college, and now everything is on phones and computers. That’s changed everything – research, how I interview people, etc.
What have been some of the most exciting stories you’ve covered? What have been some of the most difficult?
The financial crisis in New York was the most exciting. I was based in New York from 2007-2016, so I started out there right when the housing bubble burst. My job was to cover the financial crisis.
The most difficult stories we write are related to federal and state rulemakings. Bloomberg BNA covers statutory and regulatory developments in mini briefs (usually a couple paragraphs), but the events themselves are 150-page documents. In short, it’s a lot to digest. “Yesterday wasn’t fast enough” is very accurate in my world, and we have to go through the entire thing fast. But fast sometimes isn’t your friend.
How do you keep up with the latest happenings in the areas you cover?
Shameless plug, the primary source of my information comes from Bloomberg products – I have a terminal and set up a ton of alerts and key terms. I also search for new dockets on Bloomberg Law.
On Twitter, I follow relevant sources, competitors and government agencies. I scan through these threads a few times a day.
I also have regular source calls where I ask relevant experts, “What should I be writing about?” These are terrific as I get original ideas.
Does Bloomberg BNA incorporate artificial intelligence in its day-to-day reporting? If not, do you anticipate it will happen in the future?
Yes – they’re very tech heavy. There are tools that I have that I don’t know how to use entirely yet. About a year ago they created a data-driven journalism unit – I work with them to pull metrics, and because the group has a line into graphics, I can use them as a one-stop shop for data and graphics.
The terminal is very tech-focused, so there’s a lot of data-driven journalism.
Greentarget, since its earliest days, has endeavored to give back to the community by working with a variety of pro bono clients. In 2016, we contributed hundreds of hours to worthy organizations across the country. And we’re on track to do the same this year.
Now, with 2018 just around the corner, we want to expand our list of possible pro bono clients with the first ever GT Cares Grant. Throughout January, we’ll be collecting applications from U.S.-based organizations. We’ll evaluate and pick one client to work with as part of a 90-day engagement in early 2018 – and we’ll announce the winner in March. Organizations submitting applications must have a 501(c)3 designation and a communications goal that can be achieved in 90 days. They also should be new to Greentarget and not have a religious or political affiliation.
Greentarget can offer pro bono clients services in media relations, content production, social media, digital strategy and/or public relations training. But we don’t want to limit potential efforts to those buckets. Organizations submitting applications can also suggest other related types of work.
Still, it’s important to keep in mind that we’ll judge applications based on the likelihood of a fit – that is, how well we could serve your organization. Here’s a sampling of organizations we’ve worked with in 2017:
- Barrel of Monkeys: The Chicago-based arts education organization focuses on teaching creative writing to grade schoolers and turning their stories into performances for the public. The organization celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2017, and Greentarget helped create messaging that resulted in coverage in several local media outlets.
- Cameron Kravitt Foundation: CKF teaches future doctors, particularly pediatricians, how to tell parents their child has died. With a primary goal of increasing awareness of and engagement with CKF, Greentarget leveraged earned media as a channel to articulate the CKF story. We also provided a social media framework for the Junior Board to consider implementing in the second half of the year.
- Culinary Care: The organization provides made-to-order meals from a network of quality restaurants for families facing cancer. In September, the nonprofit held its 3rd Annual Corporate Cook-Off with a Chopped-inspired affair. Leading up to the event, Greentarget provided traditional media relations counsel, and post-event we developed follow-up material to help Culinary Care reconnect with sponsors, patients and families in need, as well as social media messaging.
- Heartland Alliance: Each year, Heartland Alliance hosts a Home & Garden Tour in Southwest Michigan offering a glimpse into homes and gardens with interesting architecture and interior design. Because all proceeds go to the Heartland Alliance Fund, ticket sales are of utmost importance. To increase awareness of the event, Greentarget secured media coverage in numerous event calendars, as well as articles in Road Trips for Gardeners and Harbor Country News that promoted the tour.
- Humble Design: The Detroit-based nonprofit helps families transitioning out of homeless shelters by furnishing their new homes soup to nuts (furniture, curtains, towels, dishes, art, books, etc.). The nonprofit opened a Chicago chapter in March 2017 and wanted to get the word out locally. Greentarget secured broadcast coverage on ABC, NBC and CBS.
- Kids in Need of Defense: KIND strives to ensure that no child appears in immigration court without legal representation while continuously educating lawmakers and the general public about what the kids are fleeing and who they are. Greentarget helped get the word out by leveraging traditional and social media to promote two reports on sexual and gender-based violence in Central America, and we produced two Q&As with legal volunteers.
- United Way of Metro Chicago: Greentarget facilitated planning discussions about the organization’s new neighborhood network program, developed an executive positioning plan and engaged in story development conversations with the organization’s CEO and SVP of Community Impact. We also instituted a twice-weekly news monitoring notification newsletter to flag stories that United Way can be positioned to comment on.
- Describe your organization. (200 words or less)
- Give us your best pitch about why we should work with you. (200 words or less)
- What specific communications challenge can Greentarget help you solve starting in early 2018? (200 words or less)
- How do you envision Greentarget helping you meet that challenge in 2018? (200 words or less)
- What is your ideal outcome of the work associated with this challenge – e.g., improved overall messaging, media coverage or increased social media presence? (200 words or less)
- Describe your organization and staff, particularly your communications/public relations personnel. (200 words or less)
At Greentarget we work hard to keep up with the evolving media landscape, given the work we do for clients. Sara Fischer, media reporter at Axios, has been an important resource for us – and probably is for anyone trying to understand the future of news.
So we were excited when Fischer agreed to discuss the latest industry trends with us and provide her thoughts on the role Axios is playing in the current media environment.
Axios was established as a media company delivering vital, trustworthy news and analysis in the most efficient, illuminating and shareable ways possible. Fischer joined when the publication launched in January 2017. She told us why her role as a media reporter made sense – she came in as “an expert on both sides.”
“I had sold advertising on behalf of a number of high-profile outlets, and also had the opportunity to be a reporter,” she said. “When the heads of Axios were looking for a new reporter to cover the media environment, we all agreed it was a good fit.”
A focus of Fischer’s writing has been to better understand user behavior and media consumption. She’s dug into user experience’s impact on how people get news, and her takeaways have shaped the direction of Axios’ news coverage.
“Readers don’t always like long-form content when reading hard, breaking news. However, as it relates to softer news, longer-form is more acceptable,” she said. “User experience is also paramount. Design and technology need to go hand-in-hand. If a site has too many ads, the user won’t stay with the publication. A website must be clean and fast, or a user won’t want to go there.”
Fischer and Axios have extensively researched user behavior and whether people will pay for news – a matter that has bedeviled news organizations for more than two decades. Of particular interest is social media, with fewer than 10 percent of respondents to a new Adobe study saying they are very likely to pay for news through social media channels.
For Fischer, this wasn’t at all surprising.
“There is a news and information gap in the U.S. between highly educated people and low-income people,” she said. “Highly educated people are more likely to pay for news, and they are starting to do so more frequently. However, lower-income people will continue to turn to social media as a way to access news and information, because it’s free. The challenge, however, is that they are still looking for sources of news they believe in and trust, and on social media, it’s not always easy to decipher.”
Fischer analyzed these challenges in an article on a study from the American Press Institute and the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. It found that just 25 percent of people have a “great deal” of trust for social media as a news source, with trust in Facebook being much lower at 12 percent.
Fischer explained in her article why this is such a huge problem. “Sixty-two percent of U.S. adults get news on social media, and according to Pew, 68 percent of people don’t trust the news they see or read, which is the highest distrust rate the U.S. has ever seen.”
Fischer also writes about how reporters continue to adapt in the evolving media landscape. Last month, she wrote about how Google is launching new features in its free Cloud Natural Language API to help newsrooms and other businesses sort out information, making it easier to search later.
Artificial intelligence’s impact on journalism is an important topic these days, and Fischer believes AI will continue to affect the stories journalists write and become instrumental in helping reporters market content to reach new readers.
“Reporters will be able to use the machine learnings to better manage reader relationships,” she said. “Some newsrooms are using AI to translate pieces for international markets.”
Following up on our recent conversation with Courtney Radsch, advocacy director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, we asked Fischer about how the current political environment has impacted the media environment, both for better and worse. She noted how media outlets (even publications like Vanity Fair) are creating political verticals to keep up with the public interest and a newfound aggressive fact-checking culture.
“Fact-checking has really become the center of the news landscape, and we continue to see services for fact-checking and verification to counter fake news in social media increase,” she said.
“Some journalists are struggling amid the 24-hour news cycle, longing for the day when they could be done at the end of the day,” Fischer said. “But the chaotic environment has enticed more readers to pay for news.”
“More and more people are looking for ways to distill the truths around them, and a number of publications have definitely witnessed bumps in subscriptions,” Fischer said.
Fischer moderated Axios’ first Future of the Media event last month and wrote about some of the key takeaways from the heavy hitters who participated (it’s definitely worth a read). To close our conversation, we asked Fischer what she finds most fascinating in the evolving news environment.
Her answer: There is no regulatory body that is completely responsible for oversight of the internet. There are three bodies that are responsible for parts of internet regulation. The Federal Communications Commission is responsible for illegal content, like child pornography. The Federal Trade Commission is responsible for false commercialization, like diet pill scams. And the DOJ is responsible for anti-trust.
“With what technology is capable of doing, I’m not sure how people are shocked about Russia using Facebook’s tools to target specific ads,” she said, echoing a recent Mashable story. “Anyone who has worked on the sales side of media knows that there’s nothing crazy about the functionality of this, and how easy it is to do.”
