Big Ideas by Kate Gardiner

The Locals

Last week at the Online News Association conference I caught up with many peers and colleagues about the state of news (not good). Most of the people I talked to are extremely talented and deeply experienced. Many of them are locked into long-term roles at organizations where their careers are unlikely to grow further. Virtually all of them will retire from the industry in the next 15 years.

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If we want a future of journalism, we need there to be nurturing environments for people to cut their teeth.

Martha Stewart, Cover Girl

As a person who rides horses in New York, I feel somewhat of a connection to Martha Stewart. She keeps her horses at the place where I ride upstate (what some might call a seal of approval), and the nearby Bedford Riding Lanes Association’s annual “biggest prize” at its gala is the chance to go riding with her. I have yet to even attempt to win, but there’s plenty of Martha to go ‘round for the casually interested observer.

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Why, as a consciously different candidate, is she still having to conform to the established standard?

What should communications workers know about working with journalists?

I probably know at least 27 people named Sam in the media world. Not sure what percentage of the Sams are journalists and what percentage are comms, but #Journalist Sam and #PR Sam both have delivered soliloquies at parties complaining about each other. I like the Sams Collective too much to take sides (and I’ve been on both sides myself). Here’s to some diplomacy instead, in the service of a good story for all!

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Comms people are trained to serve up a story in the interest of their client.

Who Am I?

You’ve used a memoji, right?

It’s ok if you haven’t. It’s a feature that now comes with every iPhone, where you can translate your facial movements into a cartoon (in addition to the above you can be a mouse, a dragon, an illustrated version of yourself — the list goes on). It’s super cute. But as I learned at TED last week, there’s a world in which it is not.

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We love to be scared when disruptive technology launches. And we are right to be — the tech always needs reining in to work for us, not against us.

One Call

This week I’m away from my part-time home in Florida, and so is our governor. While I am aligning with leftist hearts and minds in New York, he is rallying the conservative masses on his book tour.

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Sure, your one call feels small. But it feels bigger when you know its effect, doesn’t it?