Archive for August, 2008

This time it’s Gannett — which owns newspapers across the country — shedding 1,000 jobs.

This means a lot for us… as recently as 2005, Yale University found that newspapers were still Americans’ #2 source of information about the environment. So what explains the decline? Competition from electronic media is certainly part of the story — but Americans have lost a lot of faith in what they read, too. Here’s an interesting quote from Pew:

Two decades ago, just 16% Americans said they could believe little or nothing of what they read in their daily paper. In the most recent survey, that number tripled, to nearly 45%

Source: Pew Trends 2005

In fact, Americans’ trust in the news media has sagged so much that nature protection and pollution control experts now have more credibility when you communicate the the public directly. You have less credibility when you communicate to the public through the media.

On a personal note, let me just say this makes me very sad, and that’s probably part of the reason I focus so much attention on this. I learned to read by reading the newspaper. And ever since my first letter-to-the-editor got published, I knew that I wanted to change the world by spreading the word.

This Internet thing is pretty cool, too, but it’s not quite the same, is it?

You’re not alone! Jargon and shoptalk are common throughout the charity world, too, according to this article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Turns out I’m not alone, either.

The article profiles a some other plain English crusaders working in other fields, one of who said this nugget:

Jargon to me says, ‘I’m better than you, I’m smarter than you, I’m in the club, and you’re not,’ … Many organizations end up inadvertently excluding their constituents because of the language that they use.

Hear hear! More articles like this, please.

Thanks to Mary at the Herring Run Watershed Association for this tip!

When it comes to influencing government officials, there’s just nothing quite as effective as an in-person protest or demonstration. So next time you’re thinking about organizing an event, why not use eVite?

That’s what the good folks at Trout Unlimited Chapter 109 did — pulling a group together to protest the pending closure of a trout hatchery. Click here to check it out.

When you do, make sure you use those words that work in your invitation — so the people receiving it are confident they understand what you are asking them to do.

In their 2008 scorecard on the General Assembly, the Virginia League of Conservation Voters does a great job using words to convey to voters how they can hold elected officials accountable for their environmental actions (or lack thereof).

So how does the report hold up, picture wise? Not quite so well. All of the photos in the report are pretty much like the ones you see here.

Any thoughts on what kind of pictures the group should use?