Journalism and Public Relations

A recent article in "GOVERNING" pointed out, again, the worries over the loss of newspapers and journalism. It was recently announced that people in Birmingham, Mobile and Huntsville, Alabama and, New Orleans, will now join the ranks of other cities with only part-time delivery of news in print which not only includes the paper I used to deliver, the Ann Arbor News, but the Detroit News and Free Press. 


 As Newspapers Shrink, Public Officials Worry »

Recent cutbacks in daily print schedules will leave communities less informed.

As the economics of media shift and change, speculation aside, no one really has the solution for what will succeed next.   Blogging and social media are valuable - but what is popular is not always important.  What is important is not always popular.

Some have proposed newsletters and more information from the government.  More information can be good, but it is information, from the government.

What's lost in much of the angst is that the "sweet spot" of journalism's last century or so was driven by economics.  Attempts at impartial news coverage, of trying to focus on facts without bias, is a fairly new thing.   The earliest "newspapers" 500 and more years ago were by the church, then the state.   When Benjamin Franklin's brother started his "independent" newspaper in Boston, the powerful in Boston were not pleased.  Ben and his brother left town not long after.

The unease and change in newspapers is not new.  Newspapers have opened and closed for centuries.   The difference, now, is that we live in a culture where information is very important to survival, but fact-based information is becoming less economically viable.

Dylan Ratigan posted figures a while ago that sound about right:
In 1980, there were .45 Public Relations professionals versus .36 Journalists per 100,000 people.  By 2008, the figures had changed to .90 PR pros to .25 Journalists per 100,000.

Twice as many PR people per capita, a third fewer journalists.

There is more information than ever before.  How a citizen gets facts versus spin is an ongoing challenge.  But in the escalation of information, expect even more PR pros in the future.   Probably fewer journalists.

Here's hoping journalists are good finding the facts amidst the spin.  And the public is good at finding the journalists.

My First Isetta - is the really early "smart car," to return?

May 2009 I was in Ann Arbor visiting my parents.  It was still the depths of the recession and very rough times in the auto industry, but it was a sunny, pleasant Saturday, and a lot of car enthusiasts were out in full force.  The most notable of them all was stopping by Stadium Hardware.

 
 

The ISETTA 

1957 BMW Isetta 250

The egg-shaped Isetta can be said to be the very best microcar of its time.

Microcarmuseum

The stories on the web about this car are fascinating, and not all in agreement. In part, because the story of this first "smart car" after World War II grew to be different for the different regions where they were built. 

The driver of this car was happy to have his picture taken, but I didn't catch his name.  He's a regular in the Ann Arbor area.  He claimed that another reason for the Isetta to be made by BMW had to do with Messerschmitt and its post-WW II industrial capacity that needed to be turned to peaceful purpose.  After World War II, the company was not allowed to produce aircraft..

He was especially happy with the 40 to 50 miles per gallon this little car delivered while delivering him around town.
 

My Dad is vintage 1927, this car, 1957.   Both had close ties to WW II.

Word of the return of the Isetta came out in 2008, but I haven't heard or seen much of that news, since.    Could be electric, could be something else.

  

Mind you, the Isetta was not universally beloved - a recent "worst ten" list from a downriver newspaper (Southgate, south of Detroit) counted the Isetta as the third worst car, ever.  Worse than the Yugo. The article quotes Edmunds.com as writing that "The whole car was a crumple zone." 

A bigger hurdle for the Isetta with a BMW nameplate may be the success of its cousin, the Mini. Compared to the Daimler "Smart" microcar introduced in 1998, the larger (but still small) Mini has taken off. Bloomberg Businessweek took a recent look at the sector in February 2012.

Bloomberg Businessweek

 Bigger than sales are the results:

BMW’s Mini outsells Smart about three to one. The brand now earns about €200 million a year vs. annual losses at Smart of about €100 million.

It is easier to imagine BMW staying "mini," and letting the "micro" sector pass. I'm not so sure we'll see any more Isettas beyond the ones out there.   Glad I saw my first with my Dad.