In this issue...

Election Impact

Hazards of Hourly Billing

Diminishing Returns

Internet's First Decade

Share the News
Broadcast it!

 Missed an issue?

CLICK HERE
for archived newsletters

Election Impact

With the election over and the Bush administration in place for another four years, significant impacts on the media industry are inevitable. Some areas likely to see changes are media consolidation, technological development, regulatory oversight and broadband rollout.

The Hazards of Hourly Billing

While many PR firms accept hourly billing as an acceptable (and even preferable) practice, the dangers inherent in such a compensation system outweigh its potential benefits – to both clients and PR providers. This billing practice can undermine the perception of a PR firm’s ethics, as illustrated by recent investigations into charges of over-billing of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power by Fleishman-Hillard. (See news story) When one of the most respected companies in the PR industry comes under fire, this becomes a serious issue that needs to be addressed.

Diminishing Returns

With communities pouring more resources into developing cultural centers and the arts, traditional media is finding it harder to allocate space for the burgeoning industry, with a recent report from Columbia University confirming that newspapers are allocating less space to the field. However, alternative media is picking up the slack and providing the commentary and guidance once found in newspapers.  

Internet Celebrates First Decade

The “Center for the Digital Future” has determined 10 major Internet trends to mark the Web’s 10th anniversary as a public phenomenon:

• “The Digital Divide” in the U.S. is closing, but not yet gone. And a new type of divide is emerging. Once defined simply as those who have Internet vs. those who do not, the divide is now between broadband users and dial-up users – those with broadband use the Internet more often and for a wider variety of needs.