Many companies, especially large ones, have used it for a long time to talk internally to employees around the world, as well as telling their stories externally on national or local TV.

Now with the advent of easy, inexpensive cameras and YouTube, any organization can take advantage of the power of visual communication by putting their execs on video, posting it on their website, and emailing it to anybody who might be interested.

It’s a good strategy—if the execs are any good on camera. Unfortunately, most aren’t. So audiences can’t get to the stop button fast enough.

Four ways you know your so-called “talent” is boring everyone in sight:

1) The Teleprompter Stare (aka “deer in the headlights” eyes)

(This can happen with or without a Teleprompter.) Reading a prompter is a skill that looks easy but  isn’t. It takes instruction and practice to get good. Most don’t take the time. Much better to just “talk” to the camera.

2) The Endless Drone (a monotone voice with no inflection)

3) The Mannequin Delivery (stiff, no energy, no gestures, no smiling or any other facial expressions)

Equally as bad, are the hunched over posture while sitting at a desk or table, and/or leaning back too far.

4) Non-Conversational Gobbledygook (Too many words and sentences that are too long)

TV/Video is the medium least forgiving of anything that’s boring. If you’re using video and your execs don’t know how to deliver, you’re simply wasting your time.

But that’s exactly what Orange County Register sports columnist Mark Whicker did.

“She never saw a highlight. Never got to the ballpark for Beach Towel Night. Probably hasn’t high fived in a while.”

He then proceeded to list 20-some things Jaycee didn’t get to see while she lived in a hell-hole, from Barry Bonds breaking Hank Aaron’s home run record, to the Anaheim Ducks winning the Stanley Cup.

He ended with “Congratulations, Jaycee. You left the yard.” Funny, huh?

To add insult to injury, after readers started sending in angry emails, Whicker issued a lame apology.

“For Tuesday’s Register, I wrote a column that clearly offended and outraged large portions of our readership. It was not my intention to do so. But it’s obvious that I miscalculated the effect the column on Jaycee Dugard, and the events that she might have missed during her captivity, had on those who read, buy and advertise in our newspaper.”

Yeah, and what about Jaycee and her family?

“For 22 1/2 years at The Register, I feel like I’ve had a good and direct relationship with our audience and I think most of the regular readers know how I go about reporting and commenting on sports. This column appears to have disconnected that bond with at least part of our readers. For that I apologize.”

He goes on to call it a “lapse in professionalism.”

How about calling it extreme bad taste, an outrage, an insult, arrogance, and a dozen other things I could think of?

At least the deputy editor, John Fabris, (one of many who should have stopped the column before it ran) posted an apology that seemed sincere and contrite.

“The past few days have been the kind that make an editor’s heart ache. We ache thinking about the hurt we have caused, and we ache knowing it was preventable.”

Maybe it’s time for Whicker to issue his own honest apology.

Alliance Bank of Arizona had great news about reaching a critical goal: $1 billion in total assets! The president and CEO, obviously excited by his bank’s achievement, was quoted from the press release sent to Casacchia: “Reaching the $1 billion dollar milestone in total assets, driven by our exceptionally strong deposit growth, continues to illustrate the value of having a strong capital position.”

Can’t you just see him spouting that gem while toasting his company’s success!

In another segment of the column, Jacob Gold was quoted in a press release about his book “Financial Intelligence: Getting Back to Basics after an Economic Meltdown.”

“You would think that with the abundance of readily available financial information, people would know which path to take with their money,” he said. “In reality, the exact opposite is the case.”

No, it’s not perfect, but at least it’s conceivable that those words actually came out of someone’s mouth.

So who cares? Both got the publicity they were asking for. Even the lousy quote from the bank got ink.

The problem is, many reporters will go out of their way to NOT use a quote like that. And even when it’s used by a journalist who doesn’t take the time to call to get something better, it bores readers. They either don’t understand it, or it they do, they’re so turned off, they stop reading.

At least I did.

A print reporter comes to your office to do an interview for a story she’s writing. When she walks in, she pulls out her handy Flip video camera and asks if it’s okay for her to record the conversation. “Sure,” you say.

The next day, you go to the publication’s web site to see if your story is posted yet. Not only did the reporter write about what you said, but she also posted the entire video of your interview.

This has happened recently to a couple of my clients. The good news is they got more visibility and publicity. The bad news is they did the interviews as if they weren’t being taped so they didn’t come across as well as they could have.

What’s the difference? The first is how they sat. On my clients’ videos, they were hunched over a conference table with what looked like sloppy posture. One was wringing his hands during part of the interview.

When you’re on video, you want to sit with good posture, leaning about 15 degrees forward and using the front 2/3 of the chair. That way you look engaged and in control. And yes, use gestures, but don’t play with your pencil or wring your hands.

Second, they rambled with unfocused, lengthy answers. If it were just a print interview (or even an edited TV interview), the reporter could boil it down for her story, just using a quote or two. But on video, it was there for everyone to see and hear.

Third, they lacked energy and enthusiasm. They seemed bored with what they were saying. It might not have come across that way in person, but because TV absorbs energy, we have to be a little more animated than we are during a normal conversation (especially one done at the end of a long, tiring day).

Today, everybody is a journalist, TV reporter, and photographer. And, you always have to be “on.”

Vick said all of the right things. His demeanor shouted something different. He wasn’t feeling—or believing— what he was saying. He was simply mouthing the words his media coaches told him to say during extensive training.

Yes, Vick has done his time for the crime. He’ll cooperate with the Humane Society and say he feels guilty for what he’s done. But in his heart of hearts I don’t think Michael really thinks he did anything wrong.  I belive he would still be fighting and killing dogs if he could get away with it.

Prison was just an inconvenience on his way back to a multi-million dollar contract.

What century does Nike think it’s living in?

LeBron James gets dunked on by a college kid (Xavier’s Jordan Crawford) at a pickup game and Nike confiscates the tape, thinking that would put an end to it.

Nike claimed they took the tape because it was against the basketball camp’s media policies to videotape an after hours game. Never mind that the videographers said they were given permission to tape and that the media policies never said anything about a ban on taping.

Of course, from as long ago as Richard Nixon days, we’ve all known the cover-up is worse than the crime, and in an era of instant media, it’s even more true.

The story of LeBron James’ wounded ego and Nike’s strong-arm tactics becomes headlines for several days. And, as anyone could have predicted, despite all of Nike’s efforts, a tape of the dunk ends up on the internet.

Once again, what could have been a one-day funny story becomes a week-long demonstration that LeBron is more of a prima donna and a baby than anyone ever thought.

ESPN sideline reporter Erin Andrews was the victim of another kind of videotape. Some creep covertly taped her naked in her hotel room through a peephole. The blurry images ended up on the internet.

Andrews’ attorney says she plans to seek criminal charges and file lawsuits against the person who shot the video (if the cops ever find him/her) and against anyone who publishes the material.

A disgusting event made even more disgusting when the NY Post published photos from the video on its front page (I’m not providing the link on purpose).

ESPN now says it won’t let any of the NY Post sports reporters appear on its shows. Too bad. I doubt it was the sports department that gave the go-ahead to the sleazy pictures.

Ben Stein did this wonderfully in a recent article in the New York Times. The premise of his argument is that the Obama administration is taking on too many issues at once. It’s a theory I’ve heard often in the last few months.

But Stein brought it alive with the analogy of a plump man hit by a truck while crossing the street. Hospitalized in critical condition, the man has severe internal bleeding. The doctor, rather than just stabilizing the patient, decides that since the man is unconscious, he might as well also do a face lift, a couple heart bypasses, and stomach-stapling. Why waste a good crisis?

A good analogy never fails to bring for me an “ah-hah” moment. Back in my school days, I wondered why, in preparing for the SATs, I had to learn things like “idea is to crux as apple is to _______?”

Now I know: analogies rule!

The jokes implied that during the Palin family’s New York visit, daughter Bristol (the one who had a baby with Levi) had had sex with Elliot Spitzer and Alex Rodriguez. The Palin’s—both Todd and Sarah—responded angrily, suggesting that Letterman was talking about their younger, 14-year-old daughter and blasting him for contributing to the sexual exploitation of minors.

I have to say I thought the jokes were funny. On the other hand, if I were the Palins, I’d probably be upset as well.

I think Letterman hit just the right note in his explanation—self-deprecating, somewhat remorseful, and almost, but not quite, apologetic. He invited Sarah to come on his show.

That’s exactly what she should do. It’s the old “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” idea. Trying to win a war of words in the media with someone who has his own TV show and millions of loyal followers is pointless.

I have to agree with Jon Stewart. The promotion between MSNBCs”Morning Joe” and Starbucks makes me want to vomit. I know the news biz is suffering, but it’s hard to see them stoop to this. What a disgusting sell out.

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said that “the rules of engagement in marketing and advertising have changed quite significantly.” Maybe, but it’s a pretty scary step.

The president of MSNBC, Phil Griffin, says “Morning Joe” will continue to cover Starbucks as a news item if warranted. “They understand we have standards,” he told the New York Times.

Of course. Can’t you see it now:

Announcer: Welcome to “Morning Joe” brewed by Starbucks. Here’s Joe Scarborough.

Joe: Big news this morning — Starbucks has decided to close 500 more stores across the country, but don’t worry. They still have really good coffee like this latte I’m drinking. It’s definitely worth $4.50 even though I didn’t have to pay for it. You all should try one. Mika, what do you think?

Mika: I agree Joe. But I prefer the cafe mocha. Because their coffee is so good, I’m sure Starbucks will eventually be able to open those stores up again. What else is going on this morning Joe?

Joe: Did I mention that this Starbucks coffee is really good….

No matter who said it first, we know the adage has been around for a long time and has been proven true time and again. So why did a hospital in northern New Jersey think it could escape the fate of so many others?

The Hackensack University Medical Center was upset that a newspaper called The Record was going to write an unflattering story about some of the hospital’s board members. So — you guessed it — an administrator called and threatened to cancel all advertising on the newspaper’s website and in print.

The story ran anyway.

Then the hospital went a step further and said the newspaper couldn’t be sold in its gift shops or anywhere on campus. And, you guessed it again, The Record wrote a story about the hospital’s reaction.

The incident ended as you might expect. The hospital apologized.

And to make the Hackensack University Medical Center look even worse, the story was written up in the New York Times. This is what’s called learning a lesson the hard way.