Mack the Flack

Nine out of 10 Canadians still trust traditional news media but only 1 in four think social media is a reliable source of information, according to the Canadian Media Research Consortium (www.mediaresearch.com).

Seems we like social media for “news alerts and alternative perspectives” but we still turn to newspapers, radio and TV (and their websites) for verification of news. The Consortium survey of the 1,682 randomly surveyed adults found 90% of respondents think traditional media should continue to expose “abuses of power by government and other powerful institutions”.

As an old print reporter Mack the Flack couldn’t agree more but he cautions the distrust of social media will decrease as a younger generation, raised on social media, begin to take over our traditional media.

The survey sort of backs up the old hack, uh, flack’s gut feeling.

“Young adults have more confidence in social networking sites and blogs than average, but they still rank them far behind established news sources,” says the report.

Learn how PR embraces both the traditional and social media as a communications one-two punch in the SFU PR Certificate program. wppcert@sfu.ca

Reports predicting the death of the typewriter are exaggerated. Seems the rise of computers has not sounded the death knell for the clack, clack, clack of typewriters.

Mack the Flack learned that the false story (imagine!) started making the world news media rounds last month when one of the world’s last typewriter manufacturers – an Indian company named Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company – stopped production of the machines, which prompted a typewriter death watch.

Turns out there is an American company, Swintec, is still turning out the machines, including clear ones for the US prison system, in manufacturing plants in China, Japan and Indonesia.

The clear typewriters are popular with correctional facilities because the inmates “can’t hide contraband inside them” says Swintec’s general manager Ed Michael.

Typewriters are still used in the US by defense agencies (keep the secrets secret), courts and government agencies, including the NYPD.

Invented in 1873 by the E. Remington and Sons Company, typewriters will, eventually fade away. Until then typists will continue to learn to type “the quick red fox jumps over the lazy brown dog”.

Learn why PR embraces all technology, including social media, in the SFU PR Certificate program. wppcert@sfu.ca

So it’s Friday the 13^th and Mack the Flack read an interesting bit of news the other day. Public Relations is rated the 2^nd most stressful job according to the human resources folks at careercast.com (careercast.com/jobs-rated/10-most-stressful-jobs-2011).

PR’s is uber stressful because it is a “highly competitive” profession, according to careercast.com’s annual rating of jobs. PR is fraught with “tight deadlines that keep stress at high levels” for most flacks.

Now Mack is not about to disagree with this assessment of the trials and tribulations of PR. He knows he and his tribe must work with tight deadlines, high pressure public speaking, potentially disastrous media interviews and nerve- jangling crisis management situations.

But this stress is also what makes PR so much fun. PR is way more interesting than being a corporate executive, photojournalist, newscaster, ad executive, architect, stockbroker, paramedic or realtor. All of whom were ranked below PR in terms of job stress.

Airline pilots, who were ranked as having the most stressful job, only have one advantage over PR as Mack sees it: free flights. Then again, they have to eat the food.

Learn why PR is never boring in the SFU PR Certificate program. wppcert@sfu.ca