Times Publishes Myths as Fact

New York Times reporter Micahel Lou appears terribly unfamiliar with the voting process in the United States and voters’ behavior because he presents two myths in single paragraph for an otherwise dreary story about potential Libertarian Party presidential candidate Bob Barr.

Saying his name 3 times will make him president

Hieroglyphics Represent the Next Step

Would you like a sidebar or political analyst with that order?
The Cleveland Plain-Dealer wants columnists to write at a fifth grade level based on the Flesch-Kincaid test.
Money quote:

The memo says she wrote about Dennis Kucinich at a level appropriate for high school seniors, or subscribers to The New York Times.

The editors at the Plain-Dealer believe columnists can be effective when using words that a fifth grader can understand. The declining circulation numbers take the form of the 800-pound elephant that no one wants to discuss. The newspaper’s memo hints that readers will respond to those super great stories written for a fifth grader. If the paper’s writers can hit that level, the circulation will at least level off if not improve. If that apporach does not work, they can always try pictograms or hieroglyphics.

Arena Remains Half Full

Helping to solve New Jersey’s problems since 1966.

New Jersey Star-Ledger’s ace reporter, Maura McDermott, relies on a single source to rally support for the 10-week old white elephantPrudential Center, never mind the looming recession or New Jersey’s mammoth budget shortfall. Arena manager Dale Adams ticked off thrilling events like the circus, Spice Girls, and Celine Dion that will inflame the passions of the residents from New Jersey’s northern suburbs.

The money statistic:

The Devils are attracting 23 percent bigger crowds to their home games than they did at the Meadowlands last year and Seton Hall Pirates basketball home attendance is up by 21 percent.

The readers correctly take McDermott to task for using percentages to paint a rosy picture. The use of Seton Hall’s percentage, though, represents misleading and dodgy reporting.

My CEO Is Smarter Than Your CEO

People tend to be risk adverse because we focus on the potential loss rather than the potential gain when making a decision. To lessen the chance of making a bad decision, we collect information to reduce the amount of perceived risk associated with the decision. In the context of hiring or promoting personnel, human resource executives and their consultants behave in similar fashion. To reduce the chances of picking a bad candidate, these people rely increasingly on cognitive intelligence tests.

The money quote:

There are hundreds of established intelligence tests on the market, so if you are committed to establishing an assessment program, you might want to try a few to find one that fits your business.

My IQ is 210 and my acumen is 0

No Checks. No Balances. No Knowledge.

Dean Starkman correctly takes the business press to task for missing the housing meltdown. Starkman credits the New York Times for its well done story on the Federal Reserve’s role in this mess. He also notes the story is eight months late. Starkman provides reasons why papers like USA Today, the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Post, etc. fiddled while the housing market burned. He does not cover three glaring reasons.

Tevya joins the New York Times as a staff writer

Mapping Knowledge

Companies worry about how to organize and locate their knowledge. Hence, they spend millions on technology to over come these issues. Maps represent a new approach in knowledge organization because it provides a graphic organization of knowledge. Strange Maps covers many different approaches to graphically capturing knowledge. Lots of good stuff there.

Oh, the places you can find

Paying for Creativity

Major record labels continue their journey to obsolescences. They jettisoned their promotion responsibilities to MTV and Clear Channel long ago to concentrate on brand management responsibilities. The major record labels fail in their current role because they ignore their consumers to focus on sales of compact discs. Because they no longer promote their acts, the major record labels lost their ability to listen to consumers. Instead of responding to changes in the market, record labels alternately sue the pants off their consumers or turn their backs on legal (i.e., paying) services.

If they don’t buy a cd from our bland flavor of the week, then sue them the snot out of them!
On Wired’s web site, David Bryne provides some different approaches for artists but not for brand managers from the record labels. For the artiests, these approaches mean they will get paid. Also, check out David Byrne and Thom Yorke’s thoughts on music’s worth. Wired includes lots of clips too (HT: Filmoculous).

Looking at Bad Intelligence

The Seattle Times’ Melissa Allison sheds some light into how companies make poor decisions. It starts with faulty intelligence design. The money quote:

Researchers explore people’s refrigerators and kitchen cabinets, and they ask them about food choices while they shop.

The fine people at the research firm, the Hartman Group, nor their clients must be familiar with the Hawthorne Effect. Pity because it more than likely explains all phenomena observed by the Hartman Group.

The Hawthorne Effect also gets consumers to stop at red lights.