Thanks to Heidi Dawley at Media Life Magazine for this article featuring her friend and longtime investigative reporter Nick Davies. Mr. Davies has just written a book. It's entitled, "Flat Earth News." In it, and in Ms. Dawley's article, he asserts……most journalists in much of the developed world are in the business of recycling stories fed to them by the public relations industry and the news wires.

Just his opinion? Not really. A University study of five British newspapers over a two week period showed that only 12 percent of 2,027 stories were original. I'm beggin' ya, 'Stop the Presses.'

Mr. Davies has coined the term 'churnalism.' Reporters are churning out stories to fill bigger news holes, but with less staff and no free time to do any original work. They don't fact check much either, for lack of time. They are fed stories by PR people and wire services. These get accepted as fact.

The reporters know better. We readers know better. Which is why every day when I come to work, all day, the newspapers left here in the morning at this small office complex remain in their wrappers on the walkway. At the end of the week the landlord, Doug, picks them up and trashes them.

At home, my 96-year-old father gets two papers every day. In each, he finds the crossword and puts the rest of everything else in a brown bag from the grocery store which goes out to the curb every Tuesday for recycling. You could say that he, like the reporters, is simply recycling the news.

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Of all things, a local daily newspaper report was the initial source of information for me about this interesting start-up in my hometown. In fact, so far it seems that the local daily newspaper, according to my Google news search, is the first and only one to report on this new company.

But I have a feeling you may be hearing more about it. FLIMP stands for Flash Interactive Media Platform. It is a new offering from a company called Flimp Media, Inc. Here, from their web site, is what they say about their technology:

Flimp Media Inc. (FMI) develops next generation hosted and installed software platforms for rich media direct marketing, sales and communications. The integration of rich media (flash), web video and automated analytics is the foundation of the FLIMP microsite marketing platform. Using the FLIMP platform, users can quickly and easily manage digital assets, and create, distribute and track rich media marketing campaigns deployed through email marketing, search marketing, weblinks, websites and advertising. FLIMP microsites combine an interactive audiovisual experience with targeted distribution, viral messaging and comprehensive viewer tracking.

Check it out. I particularly liked the FLIMP video campaign examples they offer on their site.

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I've been searching for wisdom about why more mass marketing advocates don't adopt, and adapt to, social media opportunities. What exactly do they have against leading the charge to build a following? Here's an item that suggests mass marketing professionals think social media is a waste of time and money. The author of the post doesn't agree with that, and explains why. Who cares what he thinks?

The post is written by Kevin Anderson. He's someone who knows more than a little something about mass media and social media:

Kevin Anderson has been an online journalist since 1996, designing, editing and writing websites for both broadcast and print media. In 1998, he joined the BBC and became their first online journalist based outside of the UK, covering the US for its award winning news website. After coming to the UK in 2005, he developed a blogging strategy for BBC news, helped launch a programme on the BBC's 5Live covering weblogs and podcasts and was on the team that launched the interactive radio programme World Have Your Say on the BBC World Service.

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