Tuesday, July 12, 2016

As tourism and government leaders go about repairing the damage done by the media in Palm Beach County. . .

. . . Last week The Palm Beach Post article by Jennifer Sorentrue titled, "Tourism chief: Beaches free of algae" got pushed to the 'B' section, below the fold, in the least read paper of the week: Saturday. Why not have it in Sunday's print edition? Here is an excerpt:

     Jorge Pesquera, Discover’s president and CEO, appeared on several national television news shows over the Fourth of July weekend to reiterate the county’s beaches are opened and safe for swimmers.
     Meanwhile, the organization has launched a social media push, which includes links to several live beach webcams, to show potential visitors that the coastline is not coated in algae. Discover has asked local hoteliers and industry leaders to do the same.
     “There has to be high clarity and people need to have a sense of trust and confidence [emphasis added] that they are going to a destination where they are going to enjoy water activities in a safe environment,” Pesquera said.

On the subject of newspapers and "trust and confidence", below are some results from this July 7th article about "The Pew Research Center’s new survey on modern news consumption trends, conducted in partnership with the Knight Foundation":

— Print, as you might expect, continues its decline: Only 20 percent of people say they get their news from print newspapers, down from 27 percent three years ago. Only 26 percent of people who prefer to read the news prefer to do so via print newspapers.
— People who get their news online are more likely to have a negative opinion of the media. [and. . .] Young adults, in particular, are more negative about the media in general.
— News, overall, seems to have a trust problem: Only 20 percent of Americans trust the information they get from online and offline news organizations.

Also from the article: "Trust in news from social media is even lower, Pew found, echoing the findings of an April report from AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the American Press Institute."

This delves perfectly with a panel discussion hosted by the Chamber of Commerce of the Palm Beaches tomorrow (July 13th): "The Future of Newspapers".

I hope Jorge Pesquera shows up.