I met with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday and with other key U.N. leaders to discuss Haiti’s immediate and long-term needs. Those who are still alive under the rubble must be found. The bodies of those who have died must be taken away. Power must be restored and roadways cleared. But what Haiti needs most is money for water, food, shelter and basic medical supplies to bring immediate relief to those who are homeless, hungry and hurt.
President Bill Clinton is in Little Rock, Arkansas today to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Clinton Presidential Center and Park. The event is from 11:30 – 1:00 under a large tent.
The Associated Press examines the five-year impact the library has had on Little Rock.
After Clinton announced his site choice, the pace increased for development of restaurants, galleries, hotels and other businesses. The Excelsior Hotel downtown became part of the Peabody chain and has just attained four stars. The Capitol and Doubletree hotels have undergone major renovations, and a Marriott and Hampton Inn went up nearby. Early on, the Holiday Inn Presidential Conference Center took over a former hotel site and quickly provided nearby accomodations for visitors.
An e-mail comes in to The Think Tank letting me know that President Bill Clinton will be returning to Arkansas to speak at a rural philaanthropy conference organized by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation in conjunction with the Clinton School of Public Service and the Clinton Presidential Center. The conference is being held July 13-16 in Little Rock.
On April 13, 2009, In Arkansas, Culture, Newspapers and Media, Philanthropy, Politics, Public Affairs, By Blake
It’s the end of this Monday for The Think Tank. I’ve got to head over to the law school to teach, which means this is the last you’ll hear from me today. Lucky you.
I leave you with this . . .
Three More for the Lottery Commission: Gov. Mike Beebe appointed George J. Hammons on Pine Bluff, Dianne Lamberth of Batesville and Ben Pickard of Beebe to the Arkansas Lottery Commission.
FRANK, Baby!: A reception for the release of the new issue of the magazine tonight at 6:00 p.m. at the Clinton School of Public Service.
Does Your Blog Writing Suck? (Answer: Probably): Arkie blogger Ms. Adverthinker is a little fired up today about the shitty writing on certain blogs. Hey, I’m down with the grievance. Here’s a good example.
Is it Time to Start Charging for Content?: David Carr of The New York Times explores this issue and notes, “The current recession combined with a structural shift in ad spending and consumer habits have left the newspaper industry in a box canyon. Many believe they have no choice but to shoot their way out, even if it means taking on Google and the hundreds of millions of eyeballs it represents.”
Weekend Politics: MSNBC is stepping into the arena by giving Chuck Todd his own show. It will be a welcomed relief from those endless prison segments are scary and that I can’t watch.
Good for the Environment; Bad for Newspapers: Marriott hotels will no longer provide guests with a daily newspaper.
Dead: Adult film star Marilyn Chambers at the age of 56.
Text of the Day: I just had a turkey sandwich and french fries for lunch. Oh, and a Diet Coke. Natch.
E-mail of the Day: If you’re gonna do Twitter this week, how about writing about its use during the tornadoes?
Quote of the Day: Okay, just stop talking. – - Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl) in the film “Knocked Up” directed by Judd Apatow.
On April 13, 2009, In Corporate, Culture, Miscellaneous, Newspapers and Media, Philanthropy, By Blake
(Thumbs Up: Mallory Hardin, Valerie Fortner)
More from Ms. Adverthinker: “AT&T should receive big kudos for using their media power to promote companies like TOMS.”
Not long ago TOMS Chief Shoe Giver Blake Mycoski was in Little Rock for a fundraiser to Defeet Poverty. Very cool guy running a very cool company. The Think Tank sports TOMS regularly.
On April 10, 2009, In Arkansas, Culture, Local News, Newspapers and Media, Philanthropy, Politics, By Blake
It’s Good Friday and here at The Think Tank we’re going to try and enjoy it. That means that I’m not spending my day trolling the Internet, updating this blog, chilling on Twitter or text messaging. Okay, only some of that is true. But I will be off the blog for the rest of the day so can catch me on Twitter.
For you:
Tragedy: A tornado strikes Mena, Arkansas. Lots of damage and a few casualties. I received an e-mail from a friend from Howard County whose home was destroyed. Thankfully no one was injured, but it’s going to take a long time to rebuild.
Twitter It: Lance Turner notes the use of Twitter yesterday to provide updates regarding the tornado. He ponders, “While it’s seen a surge in nationwide popularity — with hundreds of new adopters in Arkansas recently — Twitter has yet to reach “mass media” status. So how important was it that emergency management and media were so active on the microblogging platform last night?”
Sling Blade: Is Billy Bob Thorton in awe of Joaquin Phoenix? This is hilarious stuff.
Yo, Barkeep!: Sam’s Club can sell booze in Fayetteville. I’m not sure what this means for Think Tank favorite the The Spirits Shop on Garland or Think Tank Dad’s favorite The Party Store on College Ave., circa 1972.
Hilarity: The CEO of The Onion was in Little Rock last night speaking at the Clinton School of Public Service. AngryCzeck was there, but he didn’t update via Twitter. Or via his blog. So disappointing.
The Future of The New York Times: Vanity Fair takes an in-depth look at the newspaper and the future of the business.
Fight!: Karl Rove gets into one at a restaurant.
E-mail of the Day: The river of crazy runs wide and deep.
Text of the Day: ESP . . . again.
Quote of the Day: This is your trip, it’s happening right now. – - Emily Friehl (Amanda Peet) in the film “A Lot Like Love,” directed by Nigel Cole.
Have at it.
My old friend, Shannon Butler, executive director of City Year Little Rock/North Little Rock, will be the guest on Jessica Dean’s Daily Debrief tonight at 6:15 p.m. on KATV.com. When I guest-hosted “The Sunday Buzz with Bill Vickery” on 103.7 a few weeks back Ms. Butler joined us in the studio to talk about the good work City Year is doing in our community. Needless to say, we’re lucky to have it.
Click here to watch the program. You can send questions to jdean@katv.com.
Also, on Saturday, May 2nd City Year will honor former White House chief of staff Mack McLarty with a Lifetime of Service Award at its annual Red Jacket Ball. You can find more information here.
On March 25, 2009, In Arkansas, Culture, Local News, Newspapers and Media, Philanthropy, Politics, Public Affairs, By Blake
I’m about to head up out of this blog for the night, but before I go I wanted to share a few things with you:
Boo on You: Jennifer Reese of Slate says don’t be fooled by by trying to grow your own food. It’s expensive.
Power Lunch: Max Brantley notes a Who’s Who of peeps at Copper Grill today, including Think Tank Dad who took time away from his Twitter to eat. Think Tank Sister and Think Tank Sister’s Man-Friend were starting to worry.
Lottery Commish: Sen. Bob Johnson appointed Ray Thornton, Patty Shipp and Derrick Smith to the Lottery Commission. I served with Mr. Smith on the Central High 50th Anniversary Commission. Gov. Mike Beebe made the law official today with a signing at the state capitol. Picks from Gov. Beebe and House speaker Robbie Wills are on deck.
SIKE: A second effort to allow people to pack heat in church failed a Senate committee today.Maybe the long national nightmare of this silly endeavor will finally come to an end.
But Not for This: Sen. Joyce Elliott’s effort to allow children of undocumented workers to receive in-state tuition passed the Senate Education Committee today, 5-2. David Kinkade’s bitching about that, too.
Egg on My Face?: This poll shows Sen. Blanche Lincoln with less than ideal approval numbers (45% favorable, 40% unfavorable). In head-to-head match-ups, Ms. Lincoln leads Tim Griffin by 8 points and Gilbert Baker by 11 points. Ms. Lincoln has a 40% unfavorable rating? Really? I’m sure PPP knows what they’re doing but that seems a bit ridiculous.
The Coffers Aren’t As Full: The state of Arkansas had to revamp its budget forecasts. Hey, if this is the worst thing we have to do we’re still better than every other state. I’m looking at you, California.
Protect My Social Networking: Facebook has hired ACLU senior attorney, Timothy D. Sparapani, to be the Director of Public Policy, a new position. The New York Times says Facebook’s Chief Privacy Officer, Chris Kelly, is going to run for Attorney General in California in 2010.
The Future of News: 40% of young Americans believe that “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” are replacing traditional news outlets.
‘The Misfits’: Marilyn Monroe, above. Lonely Misfits Drinking Society in 33.
Text of the Day: “I pretty sure I just climbed on a roof.”
E-mail of the Day: “Do you know who Bela Fleck is?”
Quote of the Day: “He is the cheese to my macaroni.” Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page) in the film “Juno.”
Out.
On March 24, 2009, In Arkansas, Culture, Local News, Philanthropy, Politics, Public Affairs, By Blake
This week, the United States Senate will vote on the Serve America Act, legislation that will triple the number of national service opportunities and enable more Americans to take an active role in solving some of the most pressing social issues in our communities.
Arkansas, for example, has nearly 700 AmeriCorps members serving in a variety of organizations throughout the state, addressing a range of needs including literacy, homelessness, community blight, and hunger. In Pulaski County, City Year Little Rock/North Little Rock – one of Arkansas’s largest AmeriCorps programs – brings young people from around the country and state to give one year of their lives to work in the public schools as tutors, mentors and role models.
The Serve America Act will create 175,000 new service opportunities in areas of need including education, health and clean energy. It will also create a Veterans Service Corps that will provide additional support for returning veterans and assist them in engaging in public service, among much more.
I hope Sen. Blanche Lincoln and Sen. Mark Pryor see the value of this bill and vote to support it. If you agree, feel free to give their offices a shout and let them know.
Politico reports that President George W. Bush and the folks involved with his foundation are having a difficult time raising $300 million needed to build the Bush Presidential Library at Southern Methodist University, in Dallas.
Former President George W. Bush is preparing for one final struggle against the odds: raising $300 million for a presidential library, museum and policy institute at a time when dollars are tight and skepticism about his presidency runs high.
The Bush project has run into trouble already with the SMU faculty. “We’ve certainly had to defend our decision, but absolutely feel like it was the right one,” said SMU’s president, R. Gerald Turner. “The overall sentiment on the faculty is that whether they agreed with the president personally or not, it’s great to have these papers and this resource on campus.”
There’s no doubt about that.
Senate President Pro Tem Bob Johnson and the Senators of the 87th General Assembly will be honored at a dessert reception on Thursday, March 19th at 7:30 p.m. in the Allen Ballroom of the Peabody Hotel. The event benefits Arkansas Children’s Hospital.
The Think Tank received an invitation to the upcoming Frank and Kula Kumpuris Lecture Series at the William J. Clinton Presidential Center on Friday, March 20th at 7:00 p.m. The event, by invitation only I’m told, will feature a discussion between three former Arkansas governors: Bill Clinton, David Pryor and Dale Bumpers. The discussion will be moderated by Arkansas businessman and former White House chief of staff Mack McLarty. According to the invitation, “This distinguished panel will reminisce about their terms as Arkansas Governors, their time in Washington, D.C., as well as their views on the current political climate.”
The following day, Saturday, March 21, Mr. Clinton, Mr. Pryor and Mr. Bumpers will join Governor Mike Beebe, Governor Jim Guy Tucker, UALR and the Central Arkansas Library System for the opening of the Arkansas Studies Institute in the River Market district of downtown Little Rock. That event begins at 6:30 p.m.
The Think Tank took a tour of ASI a few weekends back and its impressive stuff. It contains a wealth of attractive social space, something desperately needed in downtown, not to mention archives space, state-of-the-art work space and a River Market campus for the Clinton School of Public Service. And as with all Bobby Roberts projects, a plethora of Arkansas historical images everywhere you turn. It’s going to be a great addition to downtown Little Rock.
For those of you looking for an interesting and important activity this afternoon I encourage you to check out the Arkansas DeltaMade Marketplace at the Clinton School of Public Service. The event brings together products made in the Arkansas Delta region ranging from gourmet rice, honey and tea mixes to world class pottery and much more.
The event is organized by Clinton School students and co-hosted by Arkansas First Lady Ginger Beebe (Flat Stanley, too).
The event is from 4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. in Sturgis Hall of the Clinton School.
An e-mail arrived in The Think Tank’s inbox during the Academy Awards that Ellen Kuras, the Oscar nominated director of the documentary film “The Betrayal,” is producing a film on aspects of the William J. Clinton Foundation. According to the message she traveled with foundation staff to Africa last summer and she followed president Bill Clinton during the recent Clinton Global Initiative in New York.
Bringing documentarians into the mix isn’t anything new to the Clinton sphere. Not long ago, the directors of “Wordplay” made this short film about the Clinton School of Public Service. “Their Stories Will Someday Be Our Own,” the film concludes.
I’m looking forward to whatever comes of Ms. Kuras’ project, too.
On February 9, 2009, In Philanthropy, Public Affairs, By Blake
Continued this morning on “Morning Joe.” Walter Isaacson, who last week published a piece in TIME magazine that called for micropayments for news coverage a la iTunes, and Jon Meacham of Newsweek discussed the issue. Mr. Meacham, who will speak at the Clinton School of Public Service later this year, made a much simpler argument: we think our content is good and thus worth a higher price.
The New York Times has laid out its strategy for staying alive. It is predicated, like Newsweek, on high quality content. “[u]nlike almost every other major paper in the country, the flagship Times newspaper has not significantly reduced the size of its newsroom or the content of its pages; its newsroom staff of almost 1,300 people and budget of well over $200 million are easily the largest in the country,” writes Richard Perez-Pena.
The Times continues to demonstrate its commitment to digital. It “has made a long-term bet on the digital future, integrating its print newsroom with the Web, adding blogs like DealBook and City Room, slide shows and videos, even taking on Wikipedia with its Times Topics pages. The bet was that Internet ads would keep growing fast enough to eventually outweigh the erosion of ink-and-paper revenue. But that bet is still up in the air.”
UPDATE: Rex Sorgatz of Silicon Alley Insider takes a look at micropayments for The New York Times, F-bomb included.
No, I’m not asking you to go light up like this guy. Tonight’s the Get Lit fundraiser benefiting the Arkansas Literary Festival. The event is from 8:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m. at the Cox Creative Center in the River Market. Tickets are $50 and all proceeds benefit the festival.
What do you get for your money? Music by Chris Denny, food from Trio’s, Diamond Bear beer and other “literary” libations, and a sneak preview of this year’s festival. But really, it’s for a good cause. You can buy your tickets at the door, and cash, check and credit cards will be accepted. Questions? Call 501.918.3009.
The Think Tank is a host, which hopefully will not deter you from attending.
When Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward was in town two evenings ago a young man from the crowd asked him what the future would hold for newspapers. In short, Mr. Woodward said that he didn’t know, but it was likely a new model that no one had yet to discover.
Yesterday, I posted an article from Jack Shafer of Slate.com which served as a response to articles that appeared in The New York Times and The New Yorker advocating for a non-profit model newspaper. Mr. Shafer, like Lance Turner of Arkansas Business, disagreed.
This week, TIME magazine has a cover story on the newspaper business. Walter Isaacson, author of biographies of Albert Einstein and Benjamin Franklin, among others, argues a new model to save the newspaper business: micropayments. He writes, “The key to attracting online revenue, I think, is to come up with an iTunes-easy method of micropayment. We need something like digital coins or an E-ZPass digital wallet — a one-click system with a really simple interface that will permit impulse purchases of a newspaper, magazine, article, blog or video for a penny, nickel, dime or whatever the creator chooses to charge.”
While there has been a trove of companies that have tried this concept and failed, Mr. Isaacson argues that times have changed and the success of iTunes and Amazon’s Kindle prove that consumers will pay for content. Under a micropayment system, Mr. Isaacson believes, “a newspaper might decide to charge a nickel for an article or a dime for that day’s full edition or $2 for a month’s worth of Web access. Some surfers would balk, but I suspect most would merrily click through if it were cheap and easy enough.”
The basis for his belief in paid content is this: “those who believe that all content should be free should reflect on who will open bureaus in Baghdad or be able to fly off as freelancers to report in Rwanda under such a system.”
It’s interesting to note that Mr. Isaacson abhors the advertising-only business model that applies to publications that are given away for free. “In an advertising-only revenue model, the incentive is perverse. It is also self-defeating, because eventually you will weaken your bond with your readers if you do not feel directly dependent on them for your revenue.”
As an iTunes user I can certainly see Mr. Isaacson’s point. The $0.99 per song transactions are convenient and easy to conduct. And clearly the model is working and working well.
I do not use the Amazon Kindle, but I was speaking to a user yesterday and the issues of newspapers came up. She admitted that she had cancelled her New York Times subscription because she didn’t have them time to wade through it all (and newspapers stacking up in her kitchen was annoying).
She also admitted that she felt bad about getting all of the Times‘ content for free. The Kindle has solved her problem. For $13.99 she can get a one-month subscription to the Times, delivered daily to her Kindle. No paper to wade through or stacks to be created. And she doesn’t feel bad about it. And she admitted to reading the paper than she ever did when it was in print.
To support her view she pointed me to this article that suggests that the Times could save 50% in costs if (a) bought every subscriber a Kindle ($359) and (b) ditched the print publication all together. The savings, as calculated by Nicholas Carlson of Silicon Alley Insider would be in the ballpark of $346 million. And there’d be the added value of doing less harm to the environment.
A perfect solution to the Times financial woes? Probably not. After all, there are people like me that love the feel of a newspaper. But hey, with things as bad as they are, I’m open to discussing any and all ideas.
UPDATE: Eric Etheridge, The Opinionator at The New York Times, finds this quote from Clay Shirkey’s Internet post “Fame v. Fortune: Micropayments and Free Content,” which was published in 2003. “This strategy doesn’t work, because the act of buying anything, even if the price is very small, creates what Nick Szabo calls mental transaction costs, the energy required to decide whether something is worth buying or not, regardless of price. . . .”
UPDATE II: More from The Opinionator. The blogosphere doesn’t warm to Mr. Isaacson’s proposal. The Mental Transaction cost is too high.