The crowd was wowed when candidate Newt Gingrich chided CNN specifically and bashed the press on a live broadcast. And by Sunday, he was absolutely ecstatic about that decision as he critiqued his performance on morning new shows – beaming that he has pushed ahead of other candidates and connected to “the public” by hitting the press.

When Kyle Communications conducts media training sessions across the country, we also see the vitriol about media increasing on the meter like a gadget measuring radioactive fallout. It is never surprising (having walked both sides of the communications aisle in newsrooms and in PR). But it is disturbing. There is a general loathing, mistrust and distrust of the media permeating this country that is neither good for media nor promising for politicians.

Traditional media are generally trained in ethics, reporting guidelines to verify accuracy and motives and laws such as libel – or so we hope if they have college degrees in journalism, telecommunications or broadcasting.

Social media posters are not trained in the same way. They are often just simply prolific, good at attracting a crowd with similar intent, purpose or interest. But many are also very good at knowing their topics much better than mainstream press – because they are steeped in it and become extremely knowledgeable.

Reporting lines continue to blur – pundits with strong opinions are now “reporting” news. Reporters are now expressing opinions in columns and also writing news articles at the same time simply confusing their audiences (not to mention what they tweet). Everyone in traditional media is now quoting, incorporating or using unverified twitter news and Facebook posts in mainstream news coverage (actor Rob Lowe tweeting about Peyton Manning, for example).

The lines have blurred so much as to be indistinguishable.

I’m as guilty as the next – linking to articles I deem newsworthy or helpful based on my own 33 years in communications arenas.

But keep in mind everyone has a purpose – to get people talking, thinking and paying attention. To that end goal, you should always consider the messenger and the motives. I continually tell my 84-year-old father, who cannot get by without reading his daily newspaper, to always “read between the lines.”

About 20 years ago or so, I remember visiting reporters at the Austin American-Statesmen who were horrified that they would have to begin posting articles online. (Remember to cue back to the year I am speaking of here for time capsule reference.) This was at the dawn of newspapers going online. Why were they worried? They would have to post quickly, without checking or verifying information with additional sources, and maybe miss a key or important fact. Their stories could then be “incomplete.”

As my Indiana University instructor Ralph Holsinger taught me back in the 1970s when I was a freshman J student, never run a story without checking with at least three independent sources. Or, add the journalism joke for a twist – “If your mother says she loves you, check it out.” I don’t think Ralph would be tweeting if he were alive today.

Hello and welcome to 2012.

But many professions “donate” time to others, including PR professionals.

Unfortunately hours of donated service aren’t tax deductible like cash – something my accountant reminds me of regularly, but doesn’t make much sense. If your hours have value, this should equate to time as a donation. And your hours and strategic advice are often more important than any check or cash you could provide.

Let’s face it – nonprofits and associations don’t have it easy and are often in need of pro bono services; legal, accounting, PR, video production, social media networking.

They can often barely afford their rent, much less staff. And when they do ramp up with staff to meet a need or grow, they often rely on specific specialists who can handle only one task – such as grant writing.

According to The Indiana Lawyer: “The aspirational pro bono goal for attorneys, set by the American Bar Association and endorsed – but not forced – by many states, is around 50 hours.”

It can be done and to tremendous success. If you don’t believe it, read our case study for the work we donated to the Indiana Debate Commission. It’s a group we started back in 2007 and is still going strong today – based mostly on the sweat equity of volunteers and committed individuals and groups ranging from the AARP to the League of Women Voters.

What’s your pro bono goal for 2012?

We tend to like whatever works depending on your goals.

Because we do like to share content and good ideas, we don’t mind sharing items that have been posted elsewhere … so here’s a good overview from ThoseinMedia shared via Anne Willen.

Take a break, take a look and take a read.

Thanks for sharing Anne! We’ve added a few of our own as well.

(BTW, if you haven’t explored LinkedIn groups – you should do it. There’s plenty to learn and confirm via those channels.)

Best Android Apps of the Year – 2011

2011 Year in Review – Apple’s year

Top 6 Social Media Marketing Trends of 2011

4 Tech Trends For SMBs In 2012

Gartner Identifies the Top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2012

5 Key Digital Media and Advertising Trends for 2012 (Video)

Maybe the task is not as much fun as spreading evergreen wreaths and holiday lights around the office, but it should be high on your to-do list as 2012 approaches.

Here’s a quick checklist for you to run as the New Year beckons:

• Is my company’s social media policy up to date and are my employees up to date on any changes?
• Do I have my media lists updated (and checked twice) to make sure I can reach appropriate newsroom contacts?
• Should I be investigating new social media tracking tools that will help the company out in the event of a breaking news story?
• Are my employees, contractors and vendor lists updated should my company need to reach them for reputation management issues?

These should move over from the PENDING to DONE box before 2012 arrives. Just make it a part of your regular review as you send out seasonal greetings and you’ll never be caught off guard.

Happy Holidays from Kyle Communications!

Seems an advertising man explained to Friedman why major commercial brands don’t eat each other alive by “going negative” on a competitor in the same industry. Why it isn’t done, the ad man initially explained to Friedman, is because it destroys the industry. Demeaning the competitor demeans everyone.

Schieffer used the ad rule and applied it to politics, posting an interesting political commentary at the end of a recent Sunday’s “Face the Nation” show on CBS.

Schieffer pointed out that parties and candidates that denigrate each other only denigrate the system as a whole. And when a system is denigrated by its own, it certainly doesn’t give any consumer confidence.

Here’s why and how the lesson plays out in real life.

There are several types of unsolicited media queries we deal with on a weekly basis:

• Can your client comment on something going on in the news now but not directly related to your client’s business? (expert spokesperson)
• Can your client comment about good news/bad news affecting the client’s business directly? (direct spokesperson)
• Can your client comment about someone else’s bad news if your client is in a similar business? (secondary expert spokesperson)

In one week we declined interviews with Dr. Phil, Inside Edition and Chicago Public Radio because the secondary news was so negative there was no point offering an opinion or observational commentary from our clients.

Of the three requests, one involved a death, the second a lawsuit and the third a criminal act. Clearly, the producers and reporters knew this when calling – but still tried the sweet talk approach to land a secondary voice.

“It will only take three minutes of your time.”

“We can Skype you in from L.A.”

“All we need is someone to address why incidents like this happen and we really want to go to the top on this one and your group really is the best expert.”

Not going to happen. In fact, never going to happen.

Owning your own bad news is tough enough, but throwing your calling card into someone else’s messy business is a fool’s venture.

So is destroying your category.

There’s a difference between silence in an industry that protects malfeasance as opposed to jumping on the bandwagon and becoming the thousandth critic getting 30 seconds of airtime when a brand is under attack.

The sooner politicians learn that, the quicker people will be to participate, respect and engage in the political process.