Flyers' PR Chief Zack Hill: "Accuracy is Top Priority."

A big part of Zack Hill's job as senior director of communications for the Flyers is putting out fires. Like the time reporters said that Eric Lindros bit an opposing player's ear (even though he didn't). Or the time a Flyers player was accused of using a racial slur ... except that he didn't. Or the time when Charles Barkley said, "This is a game that if you lose, you go home and beat your wife and kids." Except that Charles was joking.

"Check your sources," Zack said in class yesterday, noting that he's always reachable for verification. "Accuracy is top priority. If there is a bad lead, I'll track that down."

After graduating from West Virginia University, he was an elementary school teacher. He decided to pursue a masters degree in journalism but got sidetracked while serving as an intern for the Sixers. They asked him to stay, and he eventually elevated to become the Sixers' director of public relations. In 1993, he moved over to a similar position with the Flyers, where he has been ever since.

Among his duties: attending practices and games, and facilitating media requests along the way; lining up press credentials; prepping game notes; generally making sure the public keep the Flyers in their minds all year 'round. And he's always on the phone.

"I go through several phones per year," he said - while holding a cracked iPhone in his hand.

Here are a few other things he said that stood out for me:

• Interning is the key to success. And when you intern, volunteer for everything.
• When he was interning for the Sixers, he arrived at work on a really bad snow day when everyone except the GM bailed. And that scored him massive points.

• When he was hired by the Sixers, and later when he joined the Flyers, he had to develop trust from the players. Building relationships, he said, is key - in PR, journalism and just about any profession.

• He believes in "behavioral consistency," meaning you don't freak out all the time. "I haven't lost my temper since the mid-80s," he said.

• He said he never has problems with people being honest, even when it's Flyers players speaking to the media. "Sometimes they can be a little more tactful," he added. "But I like openness."

• Part of his job is anticipating the needs of the journalists, many of whom he also has very close relationships with.
• His team, which includes three other staffers, won the 2012 Dillman Award, which recognizes the top media relations departments from the two NHL conferences.

• Zack said that newspapers are dying (though he later said that he didn't think newspapers would ever go away). And while the team credentials some bloggers, he said, "I don't trust a whole lot that I read on the Internet."

• He can't talk about the NHL lockout. The Red Wings' senior VP recently made a comment about the lockout and the team was fined a reported $250,000.

• Oh, and his brother is named Bunker. No kidding.

What stood out for you?

Can You Call It "Pink Slime" If Everyone Else Does?

Last week, a defamation lawsuit was filed against ABC News, anchor Diane Sawyer and ABC correspondents Jim Avila and David Kerley because they did a series of stories about a meat process that develops what, apparently, someone has dubbed "pink slime."

The company that filed the lawsuit, Beef Products Inc, also sued the microbiologist who coined the term, and several other people. Beef Products says that the the end result is not "pink slime," but lean, finely textured beef.

Many other organizations did stories about the meat and the process, also using the term "pink slime." The term and idea instantly became Internet fodder.

Watch the package above. Did ABC News do anything wrong? Were they fair in their reporting, or does this story exploit what is sure to be a story that will draw an immediate and powerful reaction?

One critic of ABC News wrote, "Some journalists aren’t content with covering the news; they have to make it, too. That’s been ABC’s strategy as the network has led the charge against USDA-approved beef. That agenda has put at least 600 jobs in jeopardy as the targeted company suspended operations in three separate plants."

Would you feel comfortable doing this story the way ABC News did?

Are there any grounds to the lawsuit?

Eric Newton: "Are You an Engine of Change or The Caboose Being Dragged Along?"

The job of a great school of media and communications, Eric Newton said, is to deal with the shrinking professional journalism field and figure out what to do with the gigantic screaming echo chamber that is social media.

Journalism, he said, has been turned upside-down and inside-out because of the digital age. Where readers, viewers and listeners were once the audience, we are all now a part of a giant community, where news and information goes in multiple directions at once.

But Newton, the senior advisor to the president of the Knight Foundation, wanted to know whether you thought that journalism education was adapting quick enough?

Journalism education, he argued, is a turtle in an age when the communications field evolves lightning quick. He called journalism education a "symphony of slowness." Colleges have an emphasis on research, which he argued adds little to the industry. Rather, he would like to see journalism programs adapt a teaching hospital model where students study with and work alongside professionals who are helping to shape the future of journalism.

Temple, he said, was among the better journalism programs in the country. Then he added, "You're a fast turtle. But from where I sit, you're still a turtle."

Some of the technology and crazy ideas represented in futuristic movies like Minority Report, The Matrix and I,Robot are now commonplace, Newton said, and others are coming. These new ideas and devices will change the way we communicate.

"Are you an engine of change or the caboose being dragged along?" he asked.

Here are a few others things he said that stood out for me:

• "Figure it out" was the best advice he ever received.
• You don't need a journalism degree to become a journalist but it helps. Journalism school teaches you the skills and value of the craft.
• To be successful as a modern journalist, you need to be very good at a few things and good at a lot more. Being a single-skilled journalist will not be enough.
• Journalism without community engagement is not enough.
• Measuring engagement is difficult - is it based upon comments, shares, action resulting from stories, etc?
• Newspapers are not dying. Home-delivered, paid circulation, subscriber-based newspapers in the industrialized world are in trouble.
• Technology makes everything harder and easier at the same time.

What stood out for you?

Can a Football Team Ban Reporters From Tweeting?

Before new Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer held his first weekly press conference of this season, his PR staff announced to the attending media that they were not allowed to tweet during the event. And that no twitter rule extends to every Urban Meyer press conference.

A writer from the Akron Beacon-Journal wrote in response:

"Want to ban your players from using Twitter? Fine. Want to keep the coaches off it? That’s their prerogative. But attempt to tell a room of reporters from around the state when they’re allowed to report news and problems are sure to ensue."

It seems that none of the journalists used their Twitter accounts during that press conference.

Can the football coach or the university say when a reporter can or can't reveal information?

If you were a reporter at the press conference, would you have tweeted if there was relevant information to transmit?

By the way, Urban Meyer has been on the J1111 blog before, after he yelled at a reporter. Check out that story here.

(Image via Bleacher Report)