New Media

My gosh … did Elizabeth Edwards get it precisely right about the trivial and clueless nature of today’s mainstream news media in her call-it-like-it-is OpEd in The New York Times.

“If voters want a vibrant, vigorous press, apparently we will have to demand it,” she writes, and then, she challenges all of us to raise our voices of complaint. Good for her. More people need to speak out over the sorry state of the media.

This is an outstanding example of how one organization worked with National Public Radio to achieve terrific coverage on NPR’s popular Morning Edition program. It also shows NPR’s style of merging traditional coverage with the dynamic communications elements of Web 2.0 –

Layli and Gil Miller-Muro, two members of the Baha’i Faith in northern Virginia, approached friends in their community who are members of other religions about the idea of a new kind of Sunday school for young children … where families from a range of religions would gather to learn about helpfulness, obedience, service and friendliness - virtues shared by all the world religions. Such weekly children’s classes are hosted by Baha’is throughout the U.S.

What made a difference is that Ms. Miller-Muro - who is founder of a not-for-profit organization in the Washington, DC, area - knew NPR reporter, Barbara Bradley Hagerty. Working together, they coordinated with the national Baha’i organization in Wilmette, IL, to develop a comprehensive feature.

The resulting story aired multiple times during NPR’s Morning Edition to an audience nationwide in the millions. But, check out how NPR then presented the story online — streaming audio of the story, photos of the Sunday school for children and a written version of the entire story. Not only did the story air on Morning Edition but it will remain online indefinitely.

At the same time, the U.S. Baha’i Faith spotlighted the story on the Faith’s home page with a link to more information, and, of course, a link to NPR. It all works to extend awareness for what I believe is fabulous coverage.

General Motors is trying to patch up whatever reputation it had as an environmentally aware corporation. The company is holding a series of online chats with environmental critics after GM’s blog was slammed with comments that were critical of the company’s environmental efforts. The environmental activist group Rainforest Action Network said some things that GM didn’t like, and the big car company pulled the plug on the comments function of the blog, defying all the rules for openness and transparency in a New Media world.

In today’s world of communications, corporations or organizations must behave with openness and transparency. When engaging audiences - even critics - in conversations using the communications tools of Web 2.0, companies need to accept the risk that not everyone loves them.

Now, GM has backed itself into a defensive, duck-and-cover position and has been responsible for creating adverse media coverage about itself. Not smart.