Media Watch

It seems like everyone has an endorsement proclamation to share, so I decided I wanted one too. Mine is simple and based on something rational, for a change, like the rule of law.  And in order to restore the rule of law, we need leaders focused on limiting government to only the powers permitted under this nation's charter. We have been drawn so far from these core American values that they seem radical, naive, dangerous and idealistic by today's standards. But returning to these standards must be our aim if we are to preserve this republic. Foreign Policy It was never the founders' conception that the US government would intervene in matters of other sovereign nations.  We know that doing so causes unintended blowback.  One example came to us in 1967 during the six day war, when Israel blasted the USS Liberty, a ship sent to the Sinai  Peninsula on a listening mission.  Candidates who demonize non-interventionism, characterizing it as isolationism, either don't

One of the reasons I enjoy working in the media is the perks.  At a large outdoor concert we put on, members of the staff and clients were shielded from long lines and the general filth that the "regular" goers endured.  We were treated to a better class of faire and impressive access backstage and the performers. It's all perfectly legal, but if I were a standard ticketholder, I might not have the same appreciation for such perks, especially as I'm being herded like cattle. The Wall Street Journal reported numerous examples where members of Congress, their staff, friends and family were able to enrich themselves through insider trading.  This elite class of folks can come to Washington with only a few bucks, but leave with millions more. Is that fair?  Is it true that Congress is exempt from insider trading rules imposed on us "regular" folk? Ron Paul recently spoke on the issue after 60 Minutes did an expose on how Nancy Pelosi and others were get

I'm often insulted when I see in the media that the most important issues are brushed under the rug and petty bickering makes the headlines. On MSNBC's Martin Bashir program Friday (Oct. 27), Democratic analyst Karen Finney said of the white Republican base, "They think [Cain is] a black man who knows his place." A cohort of mine subsequently shared a link to a Weekly Standard web page featuring the exchange and remarked, "Left wing racism rears it's ugly head again. Disgusting!" Putting aside for a moment his misuse of the contraction, my friend uses circular reasoning to arrive at a conclusion that the Democratic analyst is racist for accusing the white Republican base of holding a racist viewpoint. This is also a classic example of feigning dismay in order to arouse the right-wing base and distract them from the truly important issues of the day, like the poor economy and the high unemployment.  Anyone that's paying attention should re

In this rant: Why I dislike Spotify. It's spyware and malware and junkware all wrapped up in one cute package.  Plus it incessantly announces to which song certain friends are listening, further advancing the wholesale distribution of useless information. Join me next time as I rail against multiple entities reposting the same information to dozens of walls.

Michele Bachmann, John Huntsman and Sarah Palin are all saying how they'd help businesses create new jobs by lowering or eliminating corporate taxes, which would shift more of the federal revenue burden on the individuals.  They all mention a fundamental restructuring of the tax code.  I agree. But how is shifting the responsibility for generating government revenue to the individuals good for the American people? I'm running for president and I have my own plan.  It comes in two easy steps. Individual income tax came about within the last century and it's resulted in a power and wealth shift toward big business and an explosive growth of government. The fact is, the earners in this country that have the biggest need and the most to gain from lowering the federal overhead, but are the ones with the least power to influence a change, which creates a fundamental (some say fatal) flaw in the system. Money flows in a circular fashion, from manufacturers to individuals

When a political party identifies itself as a champion against taxes, insisting on extending ten-year tax cuts that benefit rich folks indefinitely, then says it's OK to allow certain other tax cuts to expire (a payroll tax cut that would help low income earners), it becomes clear what the goal is. The 6.2% Social Security payroll tax on employees that was temporarily reduced to 4.6% by Democrats is ending on schedule, thanks to Republicans, who want that particular tax to expire. The tax cut only applies to the first $100,000 in earnings, meaning that a maximum of $2,000 will be gained by any earner.  That is to say, for millionaires it's not that significant of a cut to be concerned with.  Millionaires will forgive their Congress for such a petty loss. But the gains for the federal coffers could be $120B.  So even if it is a tough chunk for earners to swallow, Republicans really have to show fiscal responsibility at this point in time.  They're running for the White

I think what Warren Buffet is saying is that we-the-people have failed the nation in regulating the money flow into the hands of the power class, that it's time to start taxing capital gains and commerce in a meaningful way and stop penalizing the hard work of the earners in America.  It's time to shift the purse strings from the individuals to the revenue generators -- the power class -- in this country. So from all American earners, I say we are sincerely sorry for our weaknesses.  We thought we could hold their feet to the fire, to keep the power class honest, but through some misguided choices on our part, we have failed America. Please help us and our nation by taking the purse strings back. PS -- we're also returning the currency to you.  It's a little dinged up, so you'll have to fix that, too.  Please don't be too mad at us.

While most of the local media is focused on the Butter Cow at the Iowa State Fair, the national press is counting down the days before the year's largest republican fundraiser. You might think, judging by the media frenzy surrounding this early presidential contest, the GOP gathering at Hilton Coliseum is a critical badge to earn in order to become a US president; candidates who don't participate are hurting themselves. Not so fast, pundit breath. Only once in thirty years has the Iowa Straw Poll in Ames predicted a presidential election, when in August of 1999, George W. Bush walked away with seemingly all the honors: Iowa Straw Poll, Iowa caucuses, other US primaries and the general election itself. John McCain, who eventually won his party's nod in '08, earned only a tenth-place showing at the money gala. Needless to say, as a measuring stick, it has little meaning.  Only Bush 41 & 43 have eventually gone on to win the presidency after an Ames Straw Po

I'm not going to talk about the Buggles here, and how their video was the first ever to hit MTV.  So if you thought that's what this article was about, move along, slick! It surprises people when I explain how audio may be more important than the quality of their video.  But it's painfully obvious when we sit together and watch a barely discernable presentation. Watching a poorly lit video, or even one with harsh backlighting, is doable if the audio is outstanding. Try it some time.  Watch a few tutorial videos where the presenter obviously has some sort of headset where he or she is practically spitting into the mic.  You hear every bad breath sound and can practically smell what was for lunch.  Or one where the presenter is talking from across the room.  The viewer turns up the volume only to hear a toilet flushing in the background. The thing about video with horrible audio is that you can look away or become distracted from the visual cues, but the crappy noises

By some measures, the 2012 republican presidential line-up has been set, and but for the primaries have staked their claim on the White House. Despite the media's bombardment of polling data, it's traditionally too early to tell who will lead the pack during the actual election year and some of today's shining stars are likely to be flushed after Iowa's Straw Pole next month. This is my second season shooting (with a camcorder, mind you) interviews of right-leaning candidates at WHO Radio, arguably the most identifiable radio station in the largest population center of the first-in-the-nation state of Iowa. This is where the momentum begins for every President elected in modern times. So it matters who shows up for the party. And while my list is growing almost by the day, a few high profile nomination seekers are conspicuously absent. If history is the best predictor of the future, then establishing a good ground game here with a personable appearance on WHO&

Former New York Governor George Pataki has been spending some time in Iowa and some are wondering if he's running for President.  WHO Radio's Jan Mickelson is one of them.

If all you do is tell followers what you're selling, then customers stop paying attention.  You can always improve your tweets & status updates by changing the focus from today's special on the menu to a special moment with customers, like photos from an event (preferably one that's related to your business over your nephew's ballgame). Burying the coupon code and saying something about a recent winner up front is more interesting.  Get the pitch in, but compelling or interesting factoids make you more of a friend than a "pitch person".

Last month Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) told Iowa radio host Jan Mickelson that the fix for the US debt crisis is to default on its debts as a way to save $1.7 trillion in interest payments -- effectively filing for bankruptcy -- and advance bond investments. Of course he also mentioned that we, like Greece, could see rioting in the streets by people losing their federal entitlements. "We're not immune from that," the 2012 GOP Presidential Candidate told Mickelson.

By August of '07, Former Massachusetts Governor W. Mitt Romney had attended more than 200 campaign events in Iowa as he appeared to lead the pack in the '08 GOP run-up, according to a statement during an interview with a radio host in Des Moines . "As you know, I enjoy getting together with Iowans all across the state." the candidate said in response to Jan Mickelson's final on-air question.  But the answer didn't fit Mickelson's query at all, which was actually an invitation to join him on the radio again, but for more than the eight minute heated discussion that ensued over whether Romney could reconcile his stance on abortion with his religion. All about being a Mormon "I'm happy to talk about my faith," says Gov. Romney multiple times while on the campaign trail.  But that doesn't square with his repeated theme in this interview , which is, "I'm not here to talk about Mormonism."  "No, I'm not running as a

WTEM announced it would begin embargoing their Podcasts for 24-hours after the corresponding shows air -- essentially erecting a pay wall, according to the story on NTS. If you follow this thread, you begin to realize there's a huge under-appreciation for compelling local digital content amid fears of a declining traditional audience. And that seems to be the mentality.  Indy radio notable Jerry Lee ended WBEB's streaming because he sees it as a bad business model.  While I agree with the revenue challenges in digital, I think Lee misses the boat and is doing a disservice to his industry by rationalizing an inability to articulate a successful sales pitch to sell a valuable product.   My response: Jerry presumes it's not possible to sell enough advertising to support the platform, and I would have to ask, "why not?" There's a real and growing audience in streaming, so to feign failure in digital is to fail in sales. Radio is a culture that refuses to g

The city council of Cefar Falls, Iowa is on its second of three readings before it casts a final vote on a law that requires commercial properties to supply keys to the city government.  It's my understanding that the revised ordinance may also require owners of residential rental property to also provide access. Not having the ordinance in front of me and not being a constitutional scholar, it's hard for me to pass judgment, but I was stunned watching council meeting highlights.  It leaves me wondering from where they think they get the power to control the citizens, for whom it works. Handing over your keys seems like giving wholesale compulsory consent, implied forfeiture of liberty.  It's CF residents'  & business owners' job to call BS on this. One of the council members said, "The merits of an idea do not depend on the number of people who hold that idea".  I agree with this, which is why our founders decided against a democracy where we&#

I can appreciate MSNBC's Rachel Maddow when she articulates a subject and can call BS when it's due, but she loses me when she predicates an entire segment on a false premise. Here she is telling us that Sen. Rick Santorum said Rep. Anthony Weiner should resign. But that's not what the former PA Senator said -- if you can recognize the difference between saying what you would do and telling someone else what they should do. In fact, Mr. Santorum has been pretty explicit about the distinction -- and made it when he visited Des Moines Friday.

With so much video floating around, it's easy to be tempted to put some of your own out there. And a lot of business professionals have a pretty good reason to make video part of their marketing strategy. It can't be terribly complicated, right? Somehow, $10,000 later, your videos aren't quite what you had invisioned. They sound terrible, the lighting isn't right and there's some jerking while panning and zooming. Notice my first observation was bad sound. That seems to be the first thing we notice about bad video, which seems counter intuitive, but true. It's also the first thing the beginner shooter neglects. And unfortunately the fix often means a new camera or expensive audio recording gear (and an editing nightmare). The reason the audio isn't clear is because you're using the built-in microphone on the camcorder. So the camcorder becomes the mic, meaning for best results, you would have to hold the camera as if it were a mic. In that way, you c

Crime seems to love my neighborhood, especially police chases.  This is the second one that sped by my house in the past year, but the fourth that I know of to flee through my neighborhood.  There was also a wanted person being retrieved across the street and a murder six blocks away this month.

I came across a neat iPad app today that assembles aggregators' content into sets of print-style pages you can flip through, similar to a book reading app.  It's called Flipboard and it really cleans up some otherwise cluttery articles from their native homes. Out of the box it comes with some preset feeds, including facebook, twitter and Google Reader modules, all setup and waiting for you to...login.  Yep, just supply usernames & passwords for your accounts and it'll take you for a spin around your social network. But wait.  Where does that login information go?  On one hand, you have journalists telling you, "Never share your private information," and others extolling the virtue of this new whiz-bang newsreader. That's a problem because this data mining operation, no matter how well trusted, could be compromised by hackers, same as credit card companies.  Recently dozens of institutions had egg on their faces when they were forced to reveal to the

Former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore visited Iowa today. Known as "Ten Commandments Judge", Moore made the announcement on WHO Radio in Des Moines this morning.  During an interview with conservative talk show host Jan Mickelson, he said he's forming an exploratory committee for a possible presidential run. Moore is perhaps best known for refusing to remove a monument bearing the Ten Commandments from the Alabama state courthouse. Watch raw video from this morning's interview.

Former Minnesota Governor and possible GOP Presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty spoke with Iowa radio talkshow host Jan Mickelson on Friday, April 1. Here is the dialog. Mickelson: A number of people emailed me this question. You mentioned clean coal. What the heck is that? Pawlenty: Ha ha. In South Dakota, they were willing to put up a coal plant that had the best technology of today. We approved it because they needed to run the lines through Minnesota. And it was the best of coal technology as it exists today -- or back then, 2010. And within thirty days or so of us approving that project, the Obama administration put a hold on it. And the investors said we’re not going to have this much delay and this much problem. They fled and the project got killed. So clean coal, I think, can be defined as, we need to use coal, but we...if someone wants to come forward and invest in the best-of-class technology as it exists today and build a coal plant, I think that’s something

Former Minnesota Governor and possible 2012 GOP Presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty was a guest on WHO Radio's Jan Mickelson Friday, April 1, 2011.

Media companies like to monetize special areas of their websites by co-branding them with their advertisers.  It wouldn't be fair to hold these sponsorships to the same performance standards as one would expect with banner campaigns.  Nevertheless, advertisers come along after the campaign and demand metrics. Web page metrics are not calculated in the same way an ad server would measure impressions and click-through rates for banner campaign. The best way to manage this post-campaign misery is to spell out the standards up front, in writing and in conversation.  It must be made clear, provably, that simple web page sponsor graphics aren't for everyone, that impression and click-through data cannot be tracked or reported.  If the advertiser recognizes the value of associating a particular web page and do not require performance metrics, only then should they consider placing an order for these areas. Knowing and fully understanding this, g ahead and ask for pageviews for a

Those that follow politics know that former Gov. Mitt Romney was well established as a frontrunner in the 2008 Presidential race leading the Iowa State Fair in August of 2007, by which time Law & Order star Sen. Fred Thompson had not yet announced his candidacy. Heading into March Madness 2010, nearly all of the 2012 republican field is in place, although none are frontrunners. The historic timeline will be drilled by talking heads over the next six months and the twelve months that follow will see regulars' eyes glaze over in rhetorical overload.  But the Ames Straw Poll is still a half year out. So who will the players be?  Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee can't balance his TV & radio gigs with a real candidacy, so he's waiting in the wings.  Rick Santorum made his way here some months ago, but was skiddish about undertaking the role.  Sarah Palin is on the lips of many teapartiers.  Michele Bachman, Tim Pawlenty and others have streaked through the Caucus

As the country's most formidable broadcaster of online streaming radio -- that is the company that actually provides the network bandwidth to the stations -- releases its audience metrics, some are comparing radio to a ubiquitous music provider, a measuring stick that doesn't get to America's economic momentum. The leading provider of local information in the US, the one that gets consumers on their daily commutes,  is radio.  There is no more relevant ad placement for local business, the very engine that pushes the US economy.  Yet analysts are suggesting that the national brand may play a more critical role for advertisers. While that may have the potential for significant impact for national brands like Pepsi and McDonald's, Big Tomato Pizza, a Des Moines brand, would find itself drowning in a sea of clutter if it turned to Pandora for its recognition. They say all politics is local.  While the subjects of politics and local business differ substantially, the r