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Nobody should confuse advertising and journalism, though both use words and pictures. Some say one pays for the other, or did once. Journalists, real ones at least, adhere to the principle of comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable. Ad people do this, too.
Giant sportswear brand Nike revealed this week an ad, first in a series, commemorating its ground-breaking “Just Do It” campaign. Unsurprisingly, it features in the simplicity of all great ads a surprise. Former US National Football League (NFL) quarterback Colin Kaepernick is pictured with the phrase: Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.
Two years ago Mr. Kaepernick knelt on the sidelines before an NFL game as the US national anthem played. It was, he said, to bring attention to racism and police brutality, specifically shootings of African-Americans. Over the course of the season, other NFL players joined the protest. US president Donald Trump called it and them un-American, evoking rage from Trump supporters. Mr. Kaepernick was waivered by the San Francisco 49ers. He lost several endorsement contracts.
Nike, on the other hand, did not cancel their contract with Mr. Kaepernick. Indeed, they extended it even though he no longer plays in the NFL. He is currently in a legal dispute with NFL team owners, charging he was blackballed from the league.
"We believe Colin is one of the most inspirational athletes of this generation, who has leveraged the power of sport to help move the world forward,” said Nike Vice President for Brand Marketing/North America Gino Fisanotti, quoted by TV sports channel ESPN (September 3), which broke the story. "We wanted to energize its meaning and introduce 'Just Do It' to a new generation of athletes.” Included in the 30th anniversary campaign will be tennis superstar Serena Williams, NBA basketball legend LeBron James, one-handed NFL linebacker Shaquem Griffin, professional skateboarder Lacey Baker and NFL wide-receiver Odell Beckham Jr..
The ad series has been created by Wieden+Kennedy, long time creative agency for Nike. Their list of awards fills a page, many noted for pushing the advertising envelope, occasionally setting it on fire. Stock traders, typically aligned with president Trump, ditched Nike shares in early morning (September 4) trading, according to CNBC. A Nike spokesperson shrugged, saying the company is taking the long view.
Outbursts of violence this past weekend in eastern Germany by right-wing extremists have been well reported. That reporting came at a cost: journalists and news crews were attacked. Police appeared reluctant to intervene. Palpable fear has risen among those who seek to inform the public.
On Saturday (September 1), according to local police, about eight thousand followers of far-right political party AfD, the xenophobic Pegida group and the Pro Chemnitz Alliance marched through Chemnitz, in Saxony, carrying bats, using the infamous - and illegal - Hitler salute and looking for a rumble. They were met by about three thousand counter-demonstrators with a small number of local police officers to keep them separate. Plus there were several dozen reporters and photographers. It was, as all reported, a riot. And about a dozen reporters and photographers were attacked.
“It’s getting pretty brutal here,” said BuzzFeed Germany reporter Pascale Müller, quoted by public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk (September 2). “I was pushed, another reporter was kicked. People were shouting ‘Get the hell out of here’.” A crew from public broadcaster MDR was chased out of a private apartment where they were filming the demonstrations and pushed down the stairway.
“Everyone is afraid when surrounded by people who hate you,” observed Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reporter Yves Bellinghausen on his experience in Chemnitz. “What should be worrying concerned citizens (is) if journalists in major German cities need helmets and bodyguards to report.” (See more about press/media freedom here)
Journalist support groups are aghast. “There must not be violence against reporters as we experienced on Saturday,” said German Journalists Association (Deutsche Journalisten Verband - DJV) chairman Frank Überall, quoted by Tagesspiegel (September 3). "If neo-Nazis, despite police presence, can beat a reporter's hands with impunity or physically attack a journalist, then freedom of the press and thus our rule of law is at stake," said German Journalists Union (Deutsche Journalisten Union - DJU) executive director Cornelia Hass. (See more about media in Germany here)
An open air music concert organized by anti-racist groups in Chemnitz Monday evening (September 3) quelled tensions somewhat. Roughly 65,000 people attended, reported Der Stern (September 3).
The Village Voice is gone, announced last week by publisher Peter Barbey. It has been, for more than six decades, one of the best known alternative weekly newspaper brands in the United States. It served the Village, as in Greenwich Village, the artsy bohemian New York City enclave. It reflected that community in every way.
Like many newspaper publishers, Mr. Barbey, who bought the Village Voice in 2015, knew he faced stiff challenges. Last year the print edition ended, the move to online-only would help contain costs; no more buying newsprint, paying the printers nor the people filling the kiosks. It didn’t work. (See more about online news here)
With its loud - figuratively - tabloid format the Village Voice was designed - again, figuratively - for the street corner kiosk. Media sage Marshall McLuhan designated newspapers as the “hot medium.” The Village Voice was, indeed, hot. The web is cold as ice.
Media brand strength is so much more than contents.
Instant appearance is a very digital thing, maybe a Millennial thing. Pop-up restaurants and retail are big things. Flash mobs used to be a big thing, until they got out of hand.
So why not pop-up newsrooms? This week one will appear in Sweden: Pop-up Newsroom Riksdagsvalet 2018. For the five days leading up to the September 9th general elections 100 (or so) journalism students and their mentors will zip through Swedish election news; monitoring sources, fact-checking and calling out fake news. This general election is particularly significant as the right-wing populist party Swedish Democrats (SD) are out in force with their own alternative facts. “There is a lot going on in the election watch,” noted Stockholm University Department of Media Studies (August 31), describing the project. (See more about elections and media here)
The general public - as well as news media organizations - can interact with the Pop-up Newsroom through several digital portals as well as a live-stream provided by the Internet Foundation in Sweden through www.goto10.se. Support for the project comes from the Google News Initiative. Pop-up Newsroom first popped up in the UK during the summer of 2017 as a collaborative framework for monitoring news and social media in real-time through digital work-flow tools. This past spring Pop-up Newsroom came to Mexico - as Verificado 2018 - with an interactive news verification tool through WhatsApp.
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