getting it

I got a magazine last week at work for an organization I belong to (but not for long – but that is another story).

RTNDA – the Radio Television News Directors Association – I’ve been a member for several years and they have a respected national reputation. They stand up for all sorts of First Amendment things, Shield Laws and offer all sorts of training and educational opportunities.

They also publish the aforementioned magazine – the Communicator. It is probably painfully obvious that an organization of people involved in Radio and TV news, doesn’t fit together like hand-in-glove with a magazine. I guess a carry-over from a different era.

Well it appears that leadership finally recognized this and decided to suspend the print version of the magazine. Probably not a bad idea. But in the same sort of “re-arranging deck chairs on the …” they decided to change their name.

The old RTNDA now becomes the RTDNA. Huh? Can’t tell the difference? Neither could I right away then I read further and realized they changed their name to – Radio Television Digital News Association.

So in trying to keep up with all the changes brought on by user generated content, web 2.0 and myriad social media et al, some rocket-scientist decided that this subtle change of adding the word “digital” into the name and scrambling the acronym will make them relevant and cutting-edge.

RTNDA has been around since 1946. No doubt it has been through several sea-changes in those 63 years. They are probably late to the party on this one. But to throw away a well-known acronym just to get the word digital in their name seems worse than 'throwing the baby out …’

One step forward (stopping publication of a paper magazine) and two steps back (name change).

But what do you expect from the folks who think bloggers only work in their PJs and somehow represent a threat to the accurate and objective truth that only real journalists and publications can offer.