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Michael Schulder
CNN Senior Executive Producer

I believe the sequence of events I’m about to recount happened for a reason. It started with a surprise birthday cake from my CNN friends and colleagues for my 50th. I ate a piece. Then I started reading the book I ordered this week from Amazon.com – Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s “Chasing Life.” I immediately turned to the chapter entitled “Living to 100.” I felt like I started reading a few bites too late.

Living to 100

Dr. Gupta was trying to get to the bottom of why there’s a larger percentage of the 100+ year-old demo living on the Japanese islands of Okinawa than anywhere else on earth. It’s not genetic, reports Dr. Gupta. Low calorie diets are partly responsible for Okinawan longevity.

At that very moment, I was interrupted by another birthday celebration here in the newsroom. A colleague visiting from New York was celebrating his 56th. A cake had just arrived for him too. “Cheese cake and red velvet cake with graham crackers in the middle and icing,” relayed 56 year-old birthday boy Joe Von Kanel, with a veteran writer’s precision. I didn’t want to be rude. But that small taste of Gupta on Okinawa gave me pause. Longer life. Fewer calories. I’ll pass.

This is not the first time I’ve felt compelled to adjust my behavior based on Sanjay Gupta’s reporting. I can’t arrive at a hotel late at night and order guilt-free room service before I go to sleep anymore because of Dr. Gupta’s admonitions against eating too close to bedtime.

I read some more.

Okinawan Mantra

“Consistent movement” is another secret of Okinawan centenarians, reports Gupta. Okinawans do not live sedentary lives. (Excuse me while I adjust my position in front of my computer.)

Among the examples Gupta cites is an Okinawan fisherman in his 90s who continued to dive off his boat for Uni – (sushi lovers rejoice – eat it with real, grated, wasabi if you can find it.)

Low calorie diets. Active lifestyles. Wise food choices you’ve probably heard about, including lots of deeply colored fruits and vegetables.

But what seems to have left the biggest impression on Dr. Gupta is an Okinawan mealtime mantra that was news to me.

Hara hachi bu. That means push away from the table. When? Before you feel full. When you’re about 80 percent full, to be more precise. Why? Neurosurgeon Gupta explains the neurological reasons. You’ll have to read his book.

Chasing Life aims to empower us all to live healthier, longer lives.

His latest book and documentary, Cheating Death, aims to enable us all to benefit from the latest, greatest, lifesaving techniques should the need arise.

On my first day of 50 I feel like I’m right at the nexus of Chasing Life and Cheating Death. My long-time colleague, CNN Editorial Director Richard Griffiths, insists I’m closer to the Cheating Death side. He also acknowledges paying for my deliciously rich high-calorie birthday cake. Hmm.

Starting Here, Starting Now

I’m not sure how Chasing Life and Cheating Death will help me with my quest to destroy the worshipers of the 18-49 demo and create A NEW DEMO FOR A NEW AGE. I’ll figure that out later.

But here’s what I want to know now from my friend Sanjay Gupta.

Let’s assume that I’m behind the curve.

Let’s assume that, during my first 50 years, I have not maximized my chances of living well until 100.

Is it too late to start today, on my 50th birthday? Is it too late for me to have an Okinawan Outcome?

Paging Dr. Gupta.

As soon as he gets back to me, I’ll get back to you.
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Follow Michael Schulder's battle against getting kicked out of the 18-49 demo here

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Michael Schulder
CNN Senior Executive Producer

My wife broke the news to me. The mail just arrived. I’d received a letter. She didn’t have to say another word. It was less than 24 hours from the moment I’d turn 50. And there it was. The most solid confirmation, short of a birth or death certificate, that I was now being kicked out of the 18-49 year old audience “demo."

The Laugh’s On Me

The only way I can properly convey this moment is to tailor an old joke for the occasion.

A man celebrating his 50th birthday is on a plane with his wife, flying over water.

The pilot announces that one of the plane’s engines has shut down and he’s making an emergency landing on an island in the middle the ocean.

He’s off the radar.

He doesn’t know the coordinates of the island.

They’re lost.

The husband turns to the wife with a mental checklist.

Husband: “Did you turn off the stove?”

Wife: “Yes. “

Husband: “Did you pay the mortgage? “

Wife: “Yes. “

Husband: Did you put on the house alarm?

Wife: “Yes. “

Husband: “Did you mail the check for my new AARP membership?”

Wife: “No. “

Husband: “THANK GOD. WE’LL BE FOUND!”

The AARP found me today. They seem to find every single one of us, just as we’re being kicked out of the 18-49 demo.

The Ladies Who Laugh

The invitation for me to join the AARP came as my wife, who is not expecting an AARP offer for some years, and our 30-something babysitter, Anna, were standing around the kitchen island chatting.

Anna chuckled at the news.

This is the same 30-something Anna who recently explained here that the reason the cold rain didn’t sting my face when I was jogging was that I hadn’t picked up enough speed on my run – so the rain wasn’t hitting me hard enough to hurt.

That same Anna was now smiling broadly at the news I’d been asked to join the AARP.

My wife asked Anna why she seemed so tickled by my AARP invitation.

“Is it because Michael receiving an AARP membership card makes you feel so young,” she asked Anna.

“Yes,” said ANNA emphatically, unable to contain her joy.

The two ladies laughed.

But Anna’s not insensitive. She relayed positively that her parents were thrilled when they got their AARP cards. Because of all the discounts.

Now my wife got really interested.

“What kind of discounts,” she asked.

Everything, said Anna. Restaurants. Hotels.

My wife’s reaction: “I don’t want to go to a hotel with an old man. “

More laughter.

And so – here I was – on the final day of my 40s …

Oh – excuse me. Anna has corrected me.

“It’s not just the final day of your 40s, Michael. It’s the final day of your first HALF CENTURY. “

Thank you, Anna. By the way, Anna is leaving Atlanta to get a master’s degree in special education.

I hope it’s special. I’ll really miss her unsolicited insights on running and aging.

My Laughing Wife

Will I accept the AARP’s offer to join?

I shouldn’t make that decision in my current state.

I want a little more time to research and reflect.

I’m going to put the application on a shelf and enjoy my birthday.

And I’m going to enjoy laughing with my wife on my birthday.

I love when my wife laughs.

I don’t mind that she got a good laugh at the thought of me, her husband, coming of AARP age.

And that was a great line she threw about the hotel.

But she should have known better than to laugh before she read.

Right there, on the front of the AARP invitation, in blue capital letters, was this offer.

FREE SPOUSE/PARTNER MEMBERSHIP

To my wife. My spouse and partner for life. Have I got a deal for you.

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Follow Michael Schulder's battle against getting kicked out of the 18-49 demo here

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Rabbi Michael Beyo.

Michael Schulder
CNN Senior Executive Producer

Yesterday it was a Nobel Laureate emailing me with ammunition here to take down the 18-49 year old “demo.”

Today, the clergy is beginning to weigh in.

This is what Rabbi Michael Beyo emailed me.

“God understood very well that the 18-49 age demographic is not the real important one, but that the older people are the true demographic to follow.”

How does Rabbi Beyo know this? What evidence does he believe God provides?

I’m glad you asked.

Rabbi Beyo:

“God, in His infinite knowledge – (and in this case we can say His infinite Marketing knowledge) – knew very well how to market to the world His message and His teachings.”

Here’s a sampling of the Biblical messages chosen by Rabbi Beyo that relate to the ultimate demo.

Isaiah 46:4 “Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.”

Proverbs 16:31 “Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained by a righteous life.”

Leviticus 19:32 “Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly.”

Job 32:7 “Age should speak; advanced years should teach wisdom.”

Psalms 92:14 "They shall still bring forth fruit in old age."

Job 12:12 (NASB) "Wisdom is with aged men, With long life is understanding.”

Calling All Clergy

I hope this serves as a calling to all clergy, from all faiths, to join my campaign to dismantle the 18-49 demo.

But first, I must ask myself, why should I trust Rabbi Beyo on this matter? After all, he admits he’s only 37.

This is where Beyo’s Biography sheds light on my efforts to create A NEW DEMO FOR A NEW AGE. His life story - the experiences he's packed into his 37 years, suggests that the NEW DEMO should transcend chronological age. There is room for members of the old, worn out 18-49 demo. But no way is the cutoff point going to be 49.

Honor Thy Father

When Rabbi Beyo was a boy, growing up in the Italian city of Milan, his father was a toy manufacturer. He created a manufacturing process to deconstruct plastic toys so their pieces could fit into small hollow chocolates, and be reassembled without glue by the lucky children who received them.

The surprise these children received upon opening these chocolates though could not compare to the surprise Michael Beyo had in store for his father when his father demanded he delay his college education to first pursue formal Rabbinical training.

Delaying the Inevitable

“My father was worried that if I went to a regular college I’d no longer be in a protected environment. Bad things could happen. Fear was in his mind.” Who knew what the young Michael Beyo would be exposed to in college.

“So my father said he wouldn’t pay for any education unless I first became an ordained Rabbi.”

Very clever on his father’s part. Becoming an ordained Rabbi typically takes as long as five to seven years of study. That would be five to seven years of sheltering his son in a Yeshiva, a Jewish religious school, before he’d be exposed to the world at large.

You can imagine his father's reaction when, in 1992, 11 months after entering Rabbinical school in Israel, Michael Beyo got on the one pay phone in his school, called his father back in Italy, and gave him the good news. “Today I got my smicha.” His rabbinical ordination. Five years of study finished in less than one.

His stunned father responded in Italian: “Da dove l’hai comprata?” Where did you buy it from?

Honor Thy Son

Michael Beyo bought his Rabbinical degree with the currency of intensive study. “In my good times, I’d study between 15 and 18 hours a day.” His father accepted his son’s news (after verifying it with the supervising Rabbi) and congratulated him. The Father Honored his Son as well as the bargain he made – and went on to pay for Rabbi Beyo to go to college.

Rabbi Beyo went on to receive an undergraduate degree in political science and two masters’ degrees – one in political science, the other in Jewish history. He now develops renewable energy projects, primarily in Europe and the Middle East. He teaches Hebrew on the side. He published a book in Italian – a conversation between himself, a man of faith, and his good friend, a man of science, on the ethical challenges of our time.

And he’s been kind enough to use the fruit of his 18 hour study days to give me some important Biblical support for my premise that the 18-49 demo is not what the source of “Infinite Marketing Knowledge” would have had in mind.

I’m beginning to drown in evidence supporting my case.

The evidence from The Bible suggests this.

Perhaps A NEW DEMO FOR A NEW AGE understates what I’m about to achieve.

Perhaps I’m close to uncovering: THE CHOSEN DEMO.

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Follow Michael Schulder's battle against getting kicked out of the 18-49 demo here

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Dr. Eric Chivian shared the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize for his leadership in the organization of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War.

Michael Schulder
CNN Senior Executive Producer

It’s true. A Nobel Peace Prize winner let me know he’s puzzled by my productivity. No, not today’s Nobel Peace Prize winner. As far as I know, President Obama is not following my campaign to destroy my industry’s worship of the 18-49 audience “demo.” But another winner of the Nobel Peace Prize has been following the series. He sent me an email this week that gives me fuel for my drive to unseat the demo-orthodoxy.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner who sent me the email is Dr. Eric Chivian.  He shared the prize in 1985 for his leadership in the organization International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. His current life mission, as a physician, is increasing awareness of the impact that damage to our environment has on human health. His collaborative work has led to the award-winning science book “Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity.” But first, here’s what he wrote me about the diversity of stories at 50on50.

“Don’t know how you keep them coming, on so many different subjects. Have you stored all these ideas away for the right moment?”

I’ll simply let those questions echo as a testament to turning 50, as I enjoy the final week of my 40s.

So now, I have some questions for Dr. Chivian.

The first is a question I’ve been asking a lot of people in the days before I turn 50.

How old are you?

“Sixty-seven-and-a-half” he answered, with tongue-in-cheek precision.

Dr. Chivian is a professor of psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School, so I wanted his insights on whether 50 marks some developmental milestone that should knock me out of some prized demo. Am I heading for decline?

After thinking carefully about the 17-and-a-half years since he turned 50, this was Dr. Chivian’s response.

“Fifty may be the beginning of the golden age of life where you have enough of the wealth of experience and associations and your mind is still highly active and creative. And you still have enough energy.”

“In your 30s and 40s you do not have a lot of life experience.”

That’s a heck of a statement coming from a physician who won the Nobel Prize when he was in his early 40s.

But it’s echoed by many highly accomplished men and women I’ve interviewed for this series.

“By the time you get into your 50s and beyond,” says Dr. Chivian, “you have a body of experience that really provides perspective on life that you don’t have earlier.”

What perspective, I asked.

“This is more about turning 60,” he said. At 60, he says, he began “to care less about what other people think. About whether you’re handsome, smart, king of the hill … at least for me.”

And this is key.

“I realized how much energy I was spending trying to impress other people. And how much energy I HAD AVAILABLE when I wasn’t using it all” to impress others.

After listening to Dr. Chivian, I want an little advance on 60 for my 50th birthday.

Wait a second. Could Dr. Chivian be undermining my premise as he articulates the power of aging.

If we in the 50+ crowd are less concerned about impressing others;

If we, as Dr. Chivian and many other highly successful people have told me, are more productive now than in any earlier period of our lives;

If we care less about what others think …

Perhaps we SHOULD be kicked out of the demo because we’re too wise, too shrewd, too experienced, too tough a sell for the programmers and advertisers.

I must entertain that possibility.

OK, I’m finished entertaining.

What Dr. Chivian’s comments add up to may be a road map for high-quality programming sponsored by advertisers spreading the word about high quality products for a high achieving, information-seeking, audience of trusted INFLUENTIALS who are just hitting their stride as they turn 50.

I don’t know whether my 50on50 campaign will ever win the Nobel Peace Prize. I’m confident it will be nominated, if I have anything to say about it.

What would be so compelling to the Nobel committee?

My mission is to develop A NEW DEMO FOR A NEW AGE. And, while I must do more reporting before creating the parameters of that demo, I already know this. It will be more inclusive and less arbitrary than 18-49. It will bring people of all ages together under one roof, rooted in a common foundation of values, for the betterment of mankind. Oh yes. I can taste that nomination.

The 18-49 demo is dying. It doesn’t take a Nobel Prize winner to figure that out. But it helps to have his insights.

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Follow Michael Schulder's battle against getting kicked out of the 18-49 demo here

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Private Patricia George, a security guard at CNN's headquarters in Atlanta.

Michael Schulder
CNN Senior Executive Producer

I feel safer now at work than I did yesterday. Not that I didn’t feel safe in the first place. Turner Security is first rate. But something one of the female security guards here at CNN did to me this morning left an impression. It started with a big wind.

First of all, let me give you fair warning. If you ever see the woman in this photo, don’t even THINK about trying to sneak past her. Don’t even THINK about trying to divert her attention from the mission at hand. She will NOT be distracted.

How do I know?

It was 9:57 am this morning. I was walking up the outside stairs to the bridge that only Turner employees are allowed to use as a work entrance.

It was raining this morning, so right there, by the guard’s side, at the entrance to the bridge outside, was a metal stand with about a hundred of those long plastic bags to put your wet umbrellas in so the floor inside doesn’t get wet.

Just as I was approaching the bridge, the wind kicked up, and the bags blew down. The wind was preparing to carry the bags away. I immediately jumped on the bags and wrestled them to the ground – with the help of the Turner Security woman’s boot. I did the hard work. All I could see was her boot on the bags. I could also hear her infectious laugh. It was a slapstick beginning to the day.

I was able to grab up all the bags, and, with a little help from the guard, get them anchored. She said she’d call Facilities to have them taken away. This all took a couple of minutes. I then proceeded to walk across the bridge to the CNN entrance, satisfied that I’d been able to help out. That’s when the guard called out to me. “Did you swipe your card?!”

In my effort to capture the bags, I’d forgotten to swipe my CNN ID security card. And the security guard NOTICED. The blowing bags did not distract her.

When I realized what a wonderful example this was of situational awareness I ran back out to the bridge to find out who that security guard was. She had already left for her shift at an indoor post. I tracked her down and introduced myself.

Her name is Patricia George. Private Patricia George. I took her photo, with her permission. And I started peppering her with questions. She answered everything with good humor, as she directed me to her side so that I wouldn’t to block her view of any potential work crasher.

As the flow of people approached her post to get on the elevators she interrupted each answer to my question with – “Mornin’ – can I see your badge ma'am? Mornin’ can I see your badge sir?” Question – Answer – Badge Please – Continue Answer - staccato style for 10 minutes.

She let me know she wasn’t ignoring me. “I’m watching my badges,” she said.

How does this story fit into my 50on50 campaign to destroy the worshipers of the 18-49 year old audience “demo?” How does this fit in to the idea that making 49 the cutoff point in the search for the most valuable audience is insane?

I had to leave my manners aside on this one. I asked Private George if she minded telling me her age.

“57,” she answered. And a grandmother too.

Yes! I’ve struck gold again. Private George’s savvy and situational awareness, built up over more than a decade of experience in her field, and many more years of life experience, provides me with more evidence, as if I needed any more, that leaving the Private Georges of the world out of the prime audience “demo” makes no sense.

I did not want to put Private George in the position of formally endorsing my 50on50 mission. But I’m confident about this.

I can trust Private George.

And I know, if she were in charge of the entrance for the ideal audience demo, she would not arbitrarily exclude the 50+ crowd.

When I succeed in creating A NEW DEMO FOR A NEW AGE, I’m stationing Private George at the checkpoint.

____________________________________________________________________

Follow Michael Schulder's battle against getting kicked out of the 18-49 demo here

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Michael Schulder
CNN Senior Executive Producer

My campaign to destroy the 18-49 demo is based in part on the wisdom I’ve gained as I approach my 50th birthday. There are people in this world you can trust. And there are people you can’t trust. The fact that you cannot trust The Royal Society For The Prevention of Cruelty To Children (The RSPCC) is a lesson for all of us, whatever our age, whatever our profession. It’s a particularly important lesson for journalists.

Just to be clear, there are a number of reputable organizations with names that sound similar to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

There's the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

There's the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

And I imagine there are others I've missed. So who could blame anyone for being favorably inclined to The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. For all I know, somewhere in this great big world there is a legitimate, respectable, RSPCC.

But not the one of which I'm aware.

I'll get to the evil RSPCC in a moment. But first let me tell you what I've learned from a quarter century in journalism.

You can't necessarily judge an individual or organization's agenda – you can't judge whether a source of information is reliable – based solely on its name. I've lost count of how many organizations that hold themselves out as a potential news sources call themselves non-profit and non-partisan independent research organizations. But that description, on its own, doesn't really help us understand whether the information we get from them is reliable. That takes more digging.

Same with individuals who have fancy titles and stellar reputations.

Bernie Madoff was considered a reliable source by much of the financial establishment, until he wasn't.

Harry Markopolos, who spent a decade trying to sound the alarm on Madoff, was an extremely reliable source who was ignored, until he wasn't.

Every single story of importance in the news today, from health care, to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and, as we approach Copenhagen, the issue of climate change and the human population's carbon footprint, requires us to determine as journalists, and as citizens, who we can trust.

Which brings me back to The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

My oldest daughter, who was 9 at the time, was the one who taught me I could not trust this group. The group, I began discovering on page 55 of Roald Dahl's children's classic, was a coalition of witches whose sole goal was to kill every child in England by lacing irresistible candies with a formula that turns the children into mice. Mouse traps would do the rest of the job.

Dahl's fictional masterpiece, "The Witches," teaches all of us a lesson we keep learning the hard way. A nice sounding title doesn't necessarily reflect the underlying goals of an organization, or the reliability of an individual. Sometimes it does. But sometimes it doesn't. And when it doesn't, we can get burned.

Because from the time we're children we wrestle with the challenge of who to trust.

Who is a "safe side" adult, as one of the best videos out there tries to help us and our children determine.

How do we know?

Who is a reliable source, we journalists ask ourselves every day. How do we know?

The answer is usually based on some combination of the source's credentials, his or her past reliability, and our own knowledge of the subject matter at hand. It also involves the reservoir of experiences that build over years in our guts.

And so, when we come across stories that trigger controversy, like war, and health care, and climate change, we look to our experience, and knowledge, and guts, to determine the most trustworthy voices.

By the time you have 50 years of life experience, you are hopefully a better judge of who to trust than earlier on in your journey.

That's one reason I'm convinced the 18-49 demo is about to die as the golden target audience. Age 49 is an insane cutoff point for any valued audience.

It's not that you can't trust younger people. It's that people with more experience tend to have more acute radar for detecting who can be trusted and who can't. In other words, good BS meters skew older. They have more influence in the community. We want them in our audience.

Of course, we know the elderly are often the most vulnerable targets of scams. Sometimes the older you get, the harder you want to believe that good news is true.
That's something the very old and the very young can have in common.

I believe there are more good people out there than there are witches, so to speak.

I believe there are more people you CAN trust than people you CANNOT.

But I know it takes time to build trust.

It takes time to figure out who we CAN trust in our own lives.

It takes time to know who we journalists can rely on as reliable sources of information.

I know it takes time. I'm about to turn 50. Trust me.

Running coach, Jeff Galloway

Michael Schulder
CNN Senior Executive Producer

I just had lunch with a fat kid who took up running for laughs. He made the U.S. Olympic marathon team. Now, he’s a popular and influential running coach. And this week, after following him to the Whole Foods salad bar where he filled his plate with black-eyed peas and steamed vegetables, he and I trampled the 18-49 year old demo.

Exorcising Lazy

The marathon runner I had lunch with is Jeff Galloway. When Galloway was a kid, his father was in the Navy so the family moved a lot. 13 schools by the time he reached 7th grade.

Because of those frequent moves, Galloway never really had a chance to get involved with school sports. As a result, he says, “I was a fat, inactive, lazy kid.”

When they settled for good in Atlanta, 13-year-old Jeff Galloway’s school required the boys to choose a sport.

Galloway says he sought advice from “the other lazy kids.” They suggested track and field because the coach was lazy too. “Tell the coach you’re gonna run on the trails and then hide out in the woods.”

Galloway’s story might have ended there – an overweight kid hiding in the woods. But some of the older kids who he liked on the team insisted he come running with them.

“They started telling jokes,” he remembers. “I ran to keep up with them so I could hear the jokes – and the gossip.”

Drawn by the conversation, Jeff Galloway started losing weight and gaining strength.

Running for Joy

Galloway’s career as a running coach began just after the 1972 Olympics.

His calls his training approach “run-walk. “

You’ll have to go to his web site  to get the details on what he considers proper running technique.

The bottom line is, it’s easier than I thought. Running should be joyful, he says. That’s why Galloway encourages runners to break up their long runs with walking if they’re starting to feel lousy. Run-walk-run.

That approach to building up stamina, says Galloway, harnesses the essence of long distance running. It’s all about “conservation of resources.” Hey – I can do that.

Maturity & Me

The ability to conserve resources takes some real self-control. That’s why, Galloway suggests, “mature adults” are naturals at long distance running.

Uh oh. There’s that term I keep seeing in my mailbox the closer I get to 50. Mature Adults. That term irritates me like my kids’ 30-something babysitter Anna irritated me when she suggested the cold rain didn’t sting my face on my run the other day because I hadn’t “gotten speed.”  In other words, I didn’t run fast enough for the rain to hit me hard.

Mature. Slow. This is not what I had in mind when I set out to destroy the 18-49 demo and create A NEW DEMO FOR A NEW AGE.

On the other hand, perhaps I’m judging pre-MATURELY.

After all, Galloway, who’s still running marathons at age 64, has designed his technique to help keep people running “Until You’re 100 Years Old.”

If my 50th birthday marks the beginning of 50 year run, then bring on 50.

I took a deep breath and summarized for Jeff Galloway what I’d learned from his book and our conversation about beginning long-distance running on the verge of age 50.

“I guess us mature adults are less impulsive,” I concluded. “I guess conserving resources, which, according to you is the essence of long-distance running, would come more naturally to us than those who are less mature.”

“I guess cutting off “THE DEMO” at the arbitrary age of 49 will miss a huge number of us marathon men and women,“ I added.

YES, Galloway happily acknowledged. I had summarized his thoughts accurately.

In fact, by “trying to be mature,” Galloway proudly told me, he has not had an “overuse injury” in 31 years of running. He had many injuries as a young competitive runner. But never as a mature adult. That’s why he’s become an evangelist for his running technique. A method that allows people of ALL AGES to run long distances injury-free – so that they can experience the pure joy of endorphins.

And so, I left lunch with Jeff Galloway inspired to prepare for my first half-marathon. 13.1 miles. 13.1 at 50. I like it.

Consider This Fair Warning

You network execs and advertisers can therefore expect me to be in the market for frequent purchases of new running shoes and layer after layer of high-tech performance wear designed to wick sweat from my MATURE body.

Yes, I AM THE WICKING DEMO!

Some TV and traditional media insiders say we mature adults are easier to reach than younger Americans because we spend more time watching TV and reading newspapers and doing all the things that get advertisements in front of our eyes. We’re easy gets, the conventional thinkers say. So we’re taken for granted.

Well, I’ve got news for you.

You’ll discover quickly that my mature friends and I, under the influence of Jeff Galloway, may be harder to get than ever.

We, the mature members of your potential audience, will be out running.

Those of you chasing the 18-49 demo – are running in the wrong direction.

Happy trails.

Michael Schulder
CNN Senior Executive Producer

I went fly fishing for the first time in my life this weekend. According to my experienced guide, I made a common mistake that often separates the novices from the veterans. I took back a lesson from that Tennessee creek that applies to every war zone as well as to life’s peaceful endeavors.

Cast Away

As a first-timer, before I got in the creek, I got a quick lesson in basic casting techniques. Two methods in particular. Overhead and sidearm. Knowing how to cast sidearm is critical, I learned, because, when you’re in a stream, there are often tree branches hanging over your head. You’ve got to have a good sidearm cast or your line will get caught in the branches. Makes sense.

Apparently, I’m a natural caster. At least on shore, standing high on the bank above a big pond with nothing to get in my way.

As soon as I was thigh-deep in my waders and the current was rushing towards me and the tree branches were nearly eye level, it became a little more difficult to land my fly where I was aiming.

And then, I made that mistake which separates the novices from the veterans.

Heading Toward the Creek’s Conveyor Belt

My guide knew where the trout was. Facing upstream with their mouths open, waiting for the current’s conveyor built to deliver their next meal.

I started downstream to avoid alerting them to my presence.

After a half hour of slowly moving upstream, disturbing the water as little as possible, I saw it. That little splash that indicated a trout was flapping around.

I could practically smell the first catch (and release) of my life. I kept my eye right on the spot where the trout had just splashed, aimed, and did my best sidearm cast.

The line never hit the water.

It got stuck in the branch of a tree. That branch must have suddenly grown since I got in the water. I had never noticed it.

That’s when I was reminded of the lesson that the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq are taught every day, before they deploy, and after they arrive. It’s the lesson I heard the senior officers pound into the heads of the newly enlisted soldiers during some reporting I did in Fort Stewart, Ga. – home of the 3rd Infantry Division.

Don’t Focus on the Fish

The fly fishing guide told me my beginner’s mistake was that I focused on the fish. A veteran focuses on the surroundings.

After speaking to many members of the 3rd ID, including the senior non-commissioned officer who had been under fire so many times over the years they called him “The Metal Magnet,” one key survival phrase kept coming up.

Situational Awareness. That means being aware of your surroundings. Not easy when you don’t speak the language and have not grown up in the culture.

This week, CNN is using its unparalleled newsgathering ability to provide our audience with situational awareness of Afghanistan in the time leading up to President Obama’s West Point address tomorrow and his announcement on whether to increase U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan.

For many of our reporters, Afghanistan has almost become like a local creek where you grow up fishing. That’s an overstatement, of course. They’ll never be local. But many of our reporters, and producers, and videographers, have spent years in Afghanistan, including before the U.S. deployments there ever began.

They will share their situational awareness with our audience on this critical week for U.S. policy in Afghanistan.

Fly fishing and fighting are not very similar.

But they do have this in common.

To succeed in succeed in either – to succeed in any endeavor in life - requires keen situational awareness.
______________________________________________________________________________________________

Tomorrow in this space:

I didn’t realize at the time we were celebrating Thanksgiving last week that the people of Afghanistan were preparing their own Thanksgiving feast. And I was surprised to learn THEIR feast was based on the story of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son, Isaac. A photo essay of Afghanistan’s Thanksgiving Feast, tomorrow, right here. Situational Awareness.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Michael Schulder
CNN Senior Executive Producer

I was proudly telling our 30-something year old babysitter of my 30-something minute jog this week in the cold, hard rain. Another example, I thought, of why, as I turn 50, her 18-49 year old demo is finished as a meaningful category. That’s when our babysitter said something that hit me like a cold hard rain.

The Atlanta Half-Marathon

Our 30-something babysitter’s name is Anna. And, apparently, Anna runs more than I do. Not necessarily better. Just more. She’s going to run in the Atlanta Half Marathon on Thanksgiving Day.

When I told her how much I enjoyed running in the cold rain this week, she asked me if I wore a hat.

A hat? … I chuckled. What kind of hat?

One of those new high-tech UnderArmour hats with the little flap in front that protects your face from the biting rain, she answered.

I recently went on an UnderArmour shopping spree, which you can read about here, but I didn’t come across any hat.

Besides, I chuckled again, I loved the feel of the cold rain on my face as I sailed through the hills of my neighborhood.

That’s when she hit me with this aside.

“I find that without a hat, the rain hurts your face when you’ve got speed.”

When you’ve got speed?!

A HARD RAIN

Oh, I get it. The faster you run, the harder the rain hits your face.

So the fact that it was raining hard in the first place but that it wasn’t bothering my face might be an indication that I DIDN’T HAVE SPEED!

Well, I can’t deny it. I’m running strong as I approach 50. Strong but slow.

I won’t reveal my speed. It’s measured in minutes per mile. That’s as specific as I’ll get.

But the idea that I never picked up enough SPEED for the rain to hurt my face stings me.

Where can I get that hat, I asked Anna.

That’s when she informed me of the pre-half-marathon runner’s paradise going on today a couple of miles from my house. The Runner’s Health & Fitness Expo!

THE RUNNER’S DOG TAG

Our babysitter, Anna, is hoping that, among other products they’ll be selling at the Runner’s Expo today, is the Lance Armstrong style band that allows you to wear your name and contact information on your wrist.

Aah, yes. I understand. Those of us in the heart of and the about-to-be-out of “the demo” have a lot more in common than you’d think. We all want to be identified … just in case.

And a wrist band is less cumbersome than carrying your driver’s license if you’re trying “to get speed.”

Our babysitter’s description of the variety of paraphernalia that might be available at the Runner’s Expo has convinced me I must pay a visit today. I will report my findings to you in this space.

MY RUNNING DEMO

I’ve told Anna, about my 50on50 campaign to destroy the 18-49 year old demo worshippers. When I asked her whether I could expect to meet a lot of people “out of the demo” at the Runner’s Expo, she was encouraging.

The people in her training group include a wide variety of ages, she said, adding that there are “people in their 50s!” ... Pause ... “And 60s too.”

At The Runner’s Expo, I will try to enlist them in my campaign against the 18-49 demo.

And while I’m there, I may buy that hat.

Because in this battle to create a new demo for a new age - as I turn 50, I plan to pick up speed.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Michael Schulder
CNN Senior Executive Producer

Just as I'm about to turn 50, the Obama Administration and its allies in the Senate are pushing what's been dubbed Botax. A 5 percent tax on cosmetic procedures, like Botox injections and face lifts. I'm actually excited about turning 50. I'm excited about my current life mission to take down the worshipers of the 18-49 year old "demo." So I don't need a LIFT for my spirits. But many do. It's a big deal.

I'm Transparent

On a personal note, as a journalist, I don't think I could ever feel comfortable with a significant cosmetic procedure. I want to be trusted. I don't want to hide anything. Don't get me wrong. I go to work fully clothed.

But the idea of doctoring your face makes me as uncomfortable as doctoring a photo. In fact, in that photo of me at the top of this story, I had the option of having the photographer airbrush out some wrinkles. He could have worked magic with his mouse. But I said NO, after I thought about it for a while. What you see is what you get. I'm turning 50. I want to LOOK like I'm telling the truth.

The Plastic Surgeon's Perspective

Of course there's the issue of empathy. The President Elect of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, Dr. Phil Haeck, points to women who are out of work and looking for jobs . He says many of them may be at a competitive disadvantage without a plastic surgeon on their side.

"They're competing with people 10 to 15 years younger than them," he notes, "and they want to look better."

Women, please comment below on whether you agree or disagree with Dr. Haeck on this point. Your radar is stronger than mine.

Money

We can all acknowledge, there's a fortune at stake. By one estimate, nearly 2-billion dollars was spent on Botox injections alone last year. One procedure – nearly 2 billion dollars. That's certainly a lift for a sagging economy. We don't know whether a 5 percent tax would eat into the industry. On the other hand, as our Researcher Emma Lacey-Bordeaux just wondered aloud, could it trigger a run on procedures?

In other words, get your tucks before the tax.

I'm also aware that my dermatologist could not make a living if every patient were like me. "The mole's normal. See you next year." Not a lot of profit there.

I have noticed that some dermatologist offices that did very few cosmetic procedures 25 years ago have turned into hotbeds of beauty shots. I've asked many dermatologists and have heard the same thing from all of them. It's where the money is.

"As Long As You Have Your Health .."

When it comes to appearances, I think you've got to prioritize. As my grandmother used to say, "as long as you've got your health."

In that spirit, Bubbie, were she alive, would probably endorse Sanjay Gupta's new book Cheating Death as a better way to spend your money than elective surgery.

Cheating Death includes fascinating stories about new state of the art techniques being used to save lives. For example, you can learn (as you would have if you watched Gupta's CNN documentary) that a new, simpler form of CPR that does not include mouth-to-mouth is having greater success than the old CPR that had been pounded into our minds. Just quick, rapid, chest thumping until the EMTs arrive is the key.

Rather than get an injection, I'm considering buying copies of Dr. Gupta's book for everyone who might have a chance of being near me in the event I have a heart attack so that they know the best way to keep me alive until the pros arrive.

The Danger Of Looking Too Good

Eliminating wrinkles, making your face look younger, your jaw look stronger, your stomach look trimmer, your eyes look rested . it's tempting, but could it be dangerous to look TOO good. These procedures could disguise evidence of your underlying health problems.

"Guess who died today?"

"Who?"

"Michael Schulder."

"Michael!? He looked so good!"

"Still does."

I'm not ready to go down. Not unless I can take the 18-49 demo with me.

Competing Values

I can't take a position in support or opposition to a Botax. I can tell you the argument for a tax is that it could help defray the expense of guaranteeing health care to the millions of uninsured Americans. The argument against it is that it might get in the way of an industry that provides a lift to our sagging economy, and make some procedures cost prohibitive for people of modest means.

You could also view this whole debate as a question of competing values.

What do we Americans value more? Tight budgets or tight faces.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Michael Schulder
CNN Senior Executive Producer

As I was saying the other day, I’ve finally spoken with the man whose hoax put me in the most embarrassing position of my journalistic career. The author, Christopher Buckley, had written the faux “news release” persuading me to write a story for Peter Jennings that the Soviet Union was auctioning off the body of Soviet Communism’s founder Vladimir Lenin. Now, 18 years after the hoax, Buckley was on the other line. Or so I thought.

How Can I Be Sure?

I called Buckley at a hotel number “he” gave me. I asked “him,” given our past history together, how could I be sure I was speaking to the real Chrisotpher Buckley? Without missing a beat he offered this evidence: “I’m in Dallas. You dialed a hotel in Dallas. If you go to the SMU [Southern Methodist University] website, you could find that I’m speaking here tonight.”

He was right. I did dial the hotel number in Dallas that he had emailed me. I checked out the SMU website and sure enough, there he was. SOLD OUT.

I was now ready to hear his version of the hoax I fell for on November 5th 1991. “My phone rang an hour before Jennings’ broadcast the following night of November 6th,” Buckley recounted to me. “It was Peter Jennings.”

A Hoax’s Half-Life

To Buckley’s surprise, Jennings had only one question for him. “I’m just calling to get your exact title.” And, Jennings added, “I’m a big fan of (your book) The White House Mess.”

My young career had been flashing before my eyes. Jennings was writing the dreaded correction story. I was sweating a few feet away from Jennings, while, unbeknownst to me, Jennings and my underminer were having a friendly phone chat. Swell.

Not only that, but now, Buckley tells me, 18 years later, that The Lenin Hoax that I alone fell for, has been a stock feature of his on the lecture circuit for many years. The theme of the lecture is his effort to come up with a book title for a collection of his essays. One option, which he rejected, was “Wanna buy A Dead Dictator?”

If I had written that great line on November 5th, 1991 it would have taken the sting out of being suckered.

But I had found the story plausible at the time for this reason. The Soviet Union was collapsing before our eyes. Its economy was practically disintegrating. I had recently written a number of perfectly accurate stories about how Moscow was selling off what one might consider national treasures to raise money. But Lenin’s body!? I should have known better.

Justice

One thing that gives me a measure of satisfaction is this. Christopher Buckley was kicked out of the prized 18-49 demo some years ago. I asked him how that felt.

“Wait until you get to 55,” he said tauntingly.

“You’ll be getting a lot more mail than you want to get, having to do with failing organs and glands.

“I still watch the network evening news,” he confessed. “You find to your horror, all the ads are aimed at you … Blood pressure drugs. Things that help you get up out of chairs. This is what awaits.”

But I feel in better physical shape now than I did 10 years ago, I told him. Is 50+ really that bad?

He thought for a second. “There’s a lot to be said for aging,” he acknowledged. “I’ve enjoyed this 50s decade more or less. You’re calmer. A little wiser.”

Good. Please stop there.

“Some body parts do give up.”

Uch – this is not the guy to enlist in my campaign to destroy the 18-49 demo worshippers.

Well, I did get a bit off track with Christopher Buckley. There are other questions I have for him and will bring you the answers if we can touch base again soon. He was generous with his time on a tight schedule.

What Buckley Taught Me

As I was preparing for my interview with Buckley, I stumbled across a similarly bizarre story from my days on ABC World News Tonight With Peter Jennings. I didn’t remember it. But I was there. On, January 19, 1994, about three years after I was scammed, Peter Jennings reported, according to the Vanderbilt Archives summary, that “The Russian laboratory in charge of preserving V.I. Lenin’s body reported offering that embalming service to other people.”

It followed a report from ABC’s Moscow correspondent David Ensor on a run on the Russian dollar caused by a lack of confidence in Russian President Boris Yeltsin.

No correction was needed that time. The embalmers story was accurate.

I’m thankful to Christopher Buckley. Falling for his witty hoax strengthened my radar for identifying stories that are too good to be true.

Stumbling across the Lenin embalmers story though reminds me of another lesson. Sometimes stories that seem too good to be true, are truly good stories.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Michael Schulder
CNN Senior Executive Producer

I got the email in a plane on the runway. Last night at 8:22pm. HE – the man who was responsible for my most embarrassing panic-inducing moment as a journalist – is “happy to talk … eager to help if I can,” according to the message on my buzzing Blackberry. It’s been 18 years since I fell for his practical joke. Eighteen years since I relayed his faux news release to the largest news audience in America, on 'World News Tonight With Peter Jennings.' Jennings had the egg on his face. But I pitched the egg. And now HE – that eminent author with the twinkle in his eye, is “eager to help if he can.”

NOVEMBER 5, 1991

That’s when it happened. The evening of November 5th, 1991. I remember the specific date because I just looked it up on the internet. My memory of being suckered lives forever in my heart and on the Vanderbilt Television News Archive. I was a mere 31-years-old. A year into my job as the youngest of Peter Jennings’ three writers. That’s when the fax came into our newsroom with the story I couldn’t resist.

FORBES FYI

The news release, in some respects, sounded too good to be true. But the letterhead on the fax was from a reputable news brand: Forbes. Forbes FYI to be precise. It had a phone number at the bottom. I dialed it. The answering machine was on (in those days it was an actual machine.) It sounded authentic to my 31-year-old ears. But nobody would be available until the next day.

Christopher Buckley at an event in New York City in May.

I couldn’t wait. Jennings was going on the air in 90 minutes, and I felt compelled to beat the competition with this gem of a story about what the Soviet Union planned to do with the body of its founder, Vladimir Lenin. The Kremlin, according to the fax, was going to auction off Lenin’s body to the highest bidder.

THE CULPRIT WAS …

So now, after all these years, I’ve tracked down the author of the faux fax. It was no secret who wrote it: the eminent author Christopher Buckley. Given my one experience with him, when he emails me that he’s “eager to help,” I’m reminded of the Twilight Zone episode when strange looking creatures from outer space with huge brains descend on earth. The only clue to their intentions is a book they’ve brought with them written in their strange language. The American translators are relieved when they figure out the book’s title: “How to Serve Man.” By the time they realize it’s a cook book, it’s too late. I will speak with Christopher Buckley, but not near the kitchen.

CAN I TRUST BUCKLEY NOW?

I was still on the runway, waiting for my flight to take off, when another email from Buckley arrived, at 8:27 p.m., a mere five minutes after the first. Buckley could talk now. I called immediately.

Chris: Michael!

Me: Chris!

I was in a bit of a fog from the excitement, so I’m not sure I got his quote right. But I think he said “I’ll tender an apology 15 years late.” So tender.

I told Buckley I couldn’t really talk now because my flight was about to take off. But we made plans to chat the following day (today) in the afternoon. “You’d better get off the phone,” he urged me, “or you’ll get in trouble with the FAA. I don’t want to get you in trouble a second time.”

A gentlemanly gesture? Or rubbing salt in an old memory?

He invited me to call him tomorrow (that’s this afternoon.) He’ll share his side of the story. And for the first time after all these years, he’ll get to hear my side – what it was that tipped the balance that led me to push the hoax on Peter Jennings.

I can’t help but wonder - if I shouldn’t have trusted him then, should I trust him now? Should I consider turning the tables on him? No. I’m not into revenge. And, besides, he’s too sharp for that. Too much life experience. Christopher Buckley was kicked out of the 18-49 demo years ago. I’m about to join him on the other side. We should view each other as potential allies now. Allies in my campaign to destroy the 18-49 demo worshipers. Perhaps he’s interested. We’ll see.

I have a good feeling about the conversation Chris and I have scheduled for this afternoon. After all, Buckley gave me his cell phone number, his home number, his email. That’s akin to a soldier laying his gun and knife on the table. I have reason to believe my full interview with Christopher Buckley, which I hope to bring you here tomorrow, will go great.

But Buckley taught me an important lesson 18 years ago. I can’t be so sure.

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Follow Michael Schulder's battle against getting kicked out of the 18-49 demo here

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Michael Schulder
CNN Senior Executive Producer

It happened again. My on-the-verge-of-50 savvy and life experience could not prevent my jaw from dropping. I'm aware lobbyists have influence in Congress. But this was another case of "I didn't know what I didn't know."

IMAGINE

Imagine a member of Congress saying publicly, for the record: “A lobbyist for a major pharmaceutical company has convinced me that ….” Well, we don’t really need to finish such a statement. “A lobbyist convinced me” is not the quickest route to credibility. And yet ...

And yet, we learned in this Sunday’s New York Times that more than a dozen members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans, entered statements in the Congressional Record that were written by a lobbyist.

According to The New York Times, the language was spoon fed to congressional staffers, Democrats and Republicans, by a prominent pharmaceutical lobbyist, and regurgitated, word for word in most cases, by the members of Congress themselves. Regurgitated without any attribution.

The New York Times was apparently not able to find out whether these members of Congress knew their words had come directly from lobbyists, or whether the words were simply relayed to them by staff members who did not mention that salient point about the source to their bosses.

Thank goodness this is an aberration.

Say what?

NY Times page 24: "Asked about the Congressional statements," a lobbyist said, "This happens all the time. There is nothing nefarious about it."

That's what I get for reading the jump page.

ATTRIBUTION

I'm particularly sensitive to the importance of attribution, because I'm part of a large, experienced team at CNN which spends much time every day trying to ensure that we attribute our information as transparently as possible so you, our audience, can weigh the words of the people we put on our air. That's one of many ways we hopefully earn your trust.

WHO CAN YOU TRUST?

This week, as part of my series to expose the weak foundation of the 18-49 audience demo before I get kicked out of it next month, I'll be writing about the connection between age and trust. I'm already learning in my reporting for this series that the "influencers" in our audience, those of you who are trusted in your community, are a key to creating A NEW DEMO FOR A NEW AGE.

And so, it's critical to get a handle on who SHOULD be trusted as influencers. How do we know who to trust?

THE TRUST ANTENNA

One thing I can tell you.

Your antenna for who to trust gets sharper with age. Maybe that's because by the time you've approached 50, as I have, you've been suckered at least once in your career.

Tomorrow I'll reveal the worst time I was suckered and what happened to me as a result. I know who suckered me. It's public information. He's a prominent writer. He's written about the incident. But I don't think he knows I'M the one he suckered. I'm in the process of trying to track him down to finally have a little talk with him.

I won't give up easily. Trust me.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Follow Michael Schulder's battle against getting kicked out of the 18-49 demo here

_________________________________________________________________________________

Michael Schulder
CNN Senior Executive Producer

I was ready for my closing argument. The information I gathered from leading trial attorneys for my past two pieces added so much additional weight to the premise that the 18-49 year old audience demo is finished, I was ready to end it right here. But I asked one too many questions.

Age=Influence … Very Often

In case you haven’t been following this series: a 34-year-old trial lawyer acquaintance of mine alerted me to the fact that litigators tend to correlate the age of a juror with his or her potential influence. Generally speaking, the older juror will be the more influential one. That’s who you want on your side. It’s the influencers who we want in our TV and dotcom audience as well. With that knowledge, 18-49 seems so arbitrary.

Voices of Experience

I called my friend Cindy Vreeland about this. She’s the Vice Chair of the Intellectual Property Litigation Practice Group at the top tier law firm WilmerHale. University of Chicago Law School class of 1990. “You’d love to persuade all members of the jury,” says Vreeland. But, in reality, you hope “to persuade the jurors who are interested in the case and have the power to persuade the others.”

And that means older people, right Cindy?

Well, not entirely. “I do patent litigation,” she tells me. That can be highly technical. “We look at folks with scientific backgrounds. We think those are the jurors who have the potential to be influencers.”

And those people could be of any age. Their science background would be more relevant than their age. A young science professor would therefore likely trump an older gentleman farmer.

OK – so, based on the influencer theory, I’m still open to including young people in what I call my search for A NEW DEMO FOR A NEW AGE.

One More Call

I decided to make one more call, to a trial attorney I’ve been friends with for years. Stephen Apolinsky. Emory Law School Class of 1987. He’s argued more than 70 cases before juries. “There is a certain deference to older people on a jury” he’s noticed (thank goodness.)

He’s also noticed that, in his experience, the foreman tends to be older. Rarely is it one of the younger jurors. (Yes!)

But here’s a twist that I never expected.

Young People Are Generous

Apolinsky’s goal, as an attorney representing plaintiffs in lawsuits, is to get the most money possible for his clients. That’s where, he believes, youth can sometimes be preferable on a jury.

“I generally do injury cases – cases where someone is hurt.” Younger people “are more apt to give money than older people.”

Why is that?

“Older people have a greater understanding of the value of the dollar.”

That observation cuts both ways.

“On the defense side, I’d prefer slightly older jurors,” says Apolinsky.

How does Apolinsky, who turns 48 next month, define older?

“49 and 1 day.”

I just turned to my colleague Mark Engel and mentioned this “older people value money” thesis. “I wonder how long that will last,” said Engel, who describes himself as way out of the demo. Will today’s younger generation value the dollar when they get older, asks Engel. Or, given the way many of them have been raised, will they never be as financially prudent as their parents? After all, Engel observed, “we don’t value the dollar like our own parents did.”

I wish I had the answer to that long term question. But I’m focusing on the here and now. I’ve got to get that 18-49 demo sidelined before I turn 50 next month.

Keep My Hope Alive

One more thing from litigator Cindy Vreeland on choosing the right juror: “you want someone who will sympathize with your side of the facts.”

That’s exactly what I want.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Follow Michael Schulder's battle against getting kicked out of the 18-49 demo here

_________________________________________________________________________________

Michael Schulder
CNN Senior Executive Producer

As I approach 50, I must remind myself, despite my “vast” life experience, always be prepared to be surprised. For example, this morning at 10:30am, CNN was covering the “balloon boy” parents’ court appearance - LIVE. What a waste of precious air time I thought. And then, I was surprised.

FLY BABY, FLY

The defense attorney for the “balloon boy’s” father was explaining politely to the judge why the judge could keep things brief since his client understood the implications of his guilty plea. My eyes were glued to the right side of CNN’s screen which showed video of the great helium balloon flight – speeding through the sky – looking like a giant chef’s hat racing to pluck the father from the court room oven and deliver him to his alleged dream of a reality show.

But this was his reality show. In the courtroom. Pleading guilty. That’s when the surprise hit me. This story was not a waste of precious air time.

The judge, after listening to the defense attorney say brevity was acceptable, insisted on giving a thorough explanation to the defendant. The judge took his time to explain to balloon boy’s dad the implications of a guilty plea. You are presumed innocent in our system, the judge told “balloon boy’s” father, Richard Heene. By pleading guilty, the judge slowly and methodically emphasized, you are giving up that presumption of innocence.

To witness the judge slow down the process in the spirit of our judicial system was more thrilling than watching that helium balloon racing through the sky.

AND THEN …

About a half hour later, again on CNN live, I listened to Attorney General Holder discuss a much more significant case, to say the least. He announced the government’s decision to try five of the 9/11 suspects in a civilian court of law. He expects that prosecutors will seek the death penalty. And he added: “I am confident in the ability of our courts to provide these defendants a fair trial, just as they have for over 200 years.”

That optimism about the fairness of the American judicial system was reinforced by the judge at a far less consequential court appearance a half hour earlier.

There is a legitimate debate over whether the 9/11 suspects should be tried in a military or civilian court which I won’t explore here. But I couldn’t help notice the same bedrock principle would apply to a silly prank as well as to one of the most violent crimes imaginable.

No matter what the charge, no matter the severity of the crime, in America, Innocent Until Proven Guilty.

It doesn’t hurt to be reminded of that, when you least expect it, whatever your age.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Later today my latest installment of how jury selection principles can help destroy the 18-49 year old demo in time, I hope, for my 50th birthday. I will acknowledge how sometimes youth does = influence.

Follow Michael Schulder's battle against getting kicked out of the 18-49 demo here

_________________________________________________________________________________

Michael Schulder
CNN Senior Executive Producer

I just learned some things that have me really excited about turning 50 – and more excited than ever that this 50on50 series may help bury the 18-49 audience demo worshipers in time for my big birthday in December. I learned these things from one of the leading jury consultants in America.

Pick a Juror, Not Any Juror

Doug Green knows a leader when he sees one. Trial lawyers pay him good money to identify the potential leaders in a jury pool, men and women who will have the influence, the stature, the respect, the inclination, to persuade the other members of the jury to vote one way. And, Green has found, there is a correlation between age and influence.

I’ll share one of Green’s many stories from the courtroom to illustrate the point. It involved an intellectual property case in Texas.

“A juror comes into court in a coat and tie. He’s wearing a tie chain. Well turned out for a country setting. He’s about 60. Retired. Does some farming and ranching. He had been a foreman on a jury before. If we lose him, we know we’re in deep trouble. If we win him we may not necessarily be ok. But if we lose him, he’ll take the rest of the jury with him.”

Green and others in this business have told me most jurors are followers, along for the ride. You can make your argument to the followers until you’re blue in the face and lose your case. That’s true in many fields. Your job in selecting a jury is to identify the one or two or three men and women who can persuade the others.

This is exactly what a young 34-year-old attorney told me for my story yesterday.

But, as I said then, I wanted corroboration from more experienced hands. Doug Green is 52. And he not only gave me corroboration that influencers tend to be older, he actually took away some of my trepidation about looking older.

Do You Want to Look Older or Younger?

I asked Green whether he has more influence now that he’s in his 50s.

“When I was in my 20s and 30s nobody would listen to me,” says Green. “You’re a kid. What do you know? In my 40s it got much better. “

So, now that Green is out of the 18-49 demo, does he want to look younger like so many others in the 50+ crowd.

"When you're younger you try to look older. When you're older you try to look younger. But I don’t try to look younger,” said Green. “In fact, I wouldn’t mind some gray hair.”

I don't get it. I have lots of gray hair I'd gladly give Green.

“In my business,” he said, “the older you get the smarter you’re perceived to be. Part of it is real.”

“Am I smarter than I was in my 20s and 30s and 40s? Yes. More experienced? Yes. But not in proportion to the credibility I get.”

And so, for Doug Green, and many of you out there, age often = influence. But not always. I’ll explore that tomorrow.

Whatever Happened in the Texas Case?

By the way, Doug Green’s side lost that case he mentioned in Texas. But he and his colleagues feel the verdict had a small adverse affect on his client who had to pay much less money than what the opposing side – the plaintiffs - asked for. It would have been much worse, the Green team felt, were it not for what they believed to have been the support of that well-dressed older juror.

One more thing. I called Doug Green back before I posted this because I was confused about one detail in his Texas anecdote. According to my notes, he had told me the 60-year-old well dressed juror was retired. He also said the man does farming and ranching. Were my notes sloppy, I asked Green? How can you be retired AND be a farmer and rancher? Green’s answer: “You clearly haven’t spent time in Texas.”

He’s right. Now I know that farming and ranching is a hobby for many retired Texans. Buy some inexpensive land. Grow some grass. Graze some cattle.

As I’m about to turn 50, I know something else. I still have a lot to learn.

Tomorrow, at 50on50:  The youth exception – Why jury and audience influencers don’t always skew old. Will tomorrow’s piece revive the dying 18-49 demo? I doubt it.

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Follow Michael Schulder's battle against getting kicked out of the 18-49 demo here

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Michael Schulder
CNN Senior Executive Producer

I bumped into a trial lawyer acquaintance of mine at Starbucks in the CNN Center the other day. Somehow we got into talking about what litigators look for when choosing a jury. That’s when it hit me. How to select a jury can help people in my business choose a target audience. And the lesson from jury selection is: the 18-49 age demo seems to make little sense. Its days are numbered as I approach my 50th birthday.

THE ONE

The name of the trial lawyer who sparked my eureka moment is Stefan Turkheimer. He used to be with the DA’s office prosecuting felonies, including “a lot of meth trafficking.” Now he represents plaintiffs in personal injury and other cases.

Turkheimer explained that, because it’s so hard to get 12 members of a jury to agree on a verdict, attorneys can’t possibly try to pick the right 12.

Instead, they try to pick the right ONE. The ONE who has the potential to – and here’s the key word - INFLUENCE the other 11 jurors. The ONE who can “marshal the troops in the jury room.“ That ONE, you hope, you’ll be able to persuade.

How old does that someone tend to be, I asked Turkheimer. “It’s someone who has reached a certain age,” was his answer.

MEN & WOMEN OF A CERTAIN AGE

A CERTAIN AGE? Can we pinpoint the age? Is it, by chance, at the younger end of 18-to-49 spectrum, the older end, or even beyond?

“You’re not going to have a 20-year-old telling the rest of the jury what to do,” said Turkheimer. “It’s just not gonna happen.”

So, in a jury room, the INFLUENCERS are … I can’t wait to hear the answer ….

“I’m looking for people,” he says, “who will pay attention to my arguments and then make my case in the jury room.”

Yes? Yes? And?

And that means, according to Turkheimer, you’ll generally, not always, but generally, want a jury that skews older.

THE INFLUENCERS

Ah HAH! So attorneys seeking a juror who has INFLUENCE will tend to choose an older person. In my business we have a name for the influencers in our audience. We call them INFLUENCERS.

Yes, lawyers and programmers and advertisers – all of us are searching for them.

WHEN ARE INFLUENCERS BORN?

There’s no official birthday that marks a person’s entry into the influencer category. But there’s certainly no age that knocks you out, as I’m about to be knocked out of the 18-49 demo simply because I turn 50 next month.

It’s pretty clear then. If you want to bring more influencers into your audience, you’d better not make 49 the cutoff.

SAYS WHO?

The attorney I’ve relied on to get me to this point, Stefan Turkheimer, might not be of “that certain age.” He graduated from the University of Georgia Law School in 2004. He’s been busy in the five years since he got his law degree. He’s tried about 30 to 40 cases. But still. He’s only 34-years-old!

In order to successfully make my case – the case that what we learn from selecting a jury could render the 18-49 demo a relic – that will take some corroboration. Corroboration from some of the most experienced veterans in litigation. Men and women of a certain age.

It’s worth a few more calls. Because this idea has the power, once and for all, to create A NEW DEMO FOR A NEW AGE.

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Follow Michael Schulder's battle against getting kicked out of the 18-49 demo here

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Michael Schulder
CNN Senior Executive Producer

I must interrupt my 50th birthday campaign – my campaign to bury the worshipers of the18-49 audience “demo” – so that I can tend to company business. The deadline has arrived for me to write the confidential self-evaluation portion of my job performance review. For efficiency’s sake, I’ll post it right here.

I’m in a zone as I approach 50. Not a zone defense. A creative zone. I can’t remember precisely when it began. But if it stretches on much longer, in the 50on50 AC360.com series I’ve been doing to fight my imminent expulsion from the 18-49 demo, I believe CNN stands to make incalculable gains (or, better yet, calculable.)

Would I rather be turning 40? Sure I would. Provided I was in this zone. I’ve spent various periods of my life in the zone. But never a zone like this. And never for so long in a single stretch. So if 50 is the price of admission to this zone, I’ll pay it.

Humility

I know I may be sounding arrogant. And I’m aware of the value of humility.

But I’m reminded of the joke Bible scholar Elie Wiesel likes to tell:

Two religious friends are sitting on a park bench debating their relative levels of humility.
One man says to the other: “I’m the most humble man I know.”
His friend responds: “You? How can you COMPARE your humility to mine?!”

Raise Me

I must say, humbly, as I approach my 50th birthday, I consider myself deserving of the maximum raise allowable under CNN corporate policy. That corporate policy has been explained to me the way some store owners punch a hundred numbers into a calculator and then reveal the best price they can give you. I see.

I deserve better. I deserve one of those special raises. A huge check. One of those “I’m partially responsible for the failure of my investment bank” bonuses.

But we journalists don’t get big bonuses. It’s not the nature of our business. I understand that. I won’t take it personally. I’m just saying, if we did get bonuses for successfully adding value, as some bankers do for successfully losing value, I’d deserve a big one.

The Specifics

As evidence of the value I’ve added to CNN as a senior member of the editorial staff, I could point to a number of other peoples’ scripts that I helped transform from OK to excellent. But the individuals I cite would object and it would get messy.

And then, in fairness, I’d have to cite all the superb first drafts I received that took me only two minutes to read and sign off on, which allowed me to quickly get back in my zone. This latter zone I refer to is essential for creative output. It’s the “zone-out.” Brief, but necessary, for refreshing the mind and giving lucrative ideas the space to form.

50on50

Speaking of lucrative ideas, how do you like this 50on50 series? Out with the 18-49 demo. In with A NEW DEMO FOR A NEW AGE. “A new demo for a new age” is so original, a Google search of the phrase only turned up references to this series. Talk about ripe for going viral! Will you, my CNN job evaluators, join me on my journey here?

If you’re reading this now, you should know that you are part of my very own exclusive 18-49 demo.  Eighteen to 49 is the average number of readers I have.

But, as I approach 50, with an amazing family by my side, I’m a happy man living in my zone.

My Future

You could say I should be pessimistic when I look at the number of clicks I’m getting. But I know quite a few movers and shakers on Wall Street. I know what they value. And I’m the kind of investment they love.

They can look at my current readership numbers, look at the potential market out there for my series, and do the thing that makes stock prices shoot up: Imagine growth.

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Follow Michael Schulder's battle against getting kicked out of the 18-49 demo here

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'Michael Jackson on set at one of his final rehearsals.

Michael Schulder
CNN Senior Executive Producer

I was hoping to post a story this morning called: “What Selecting a Jury Teaches Us About Targeting the Ideal Audience.” But I decided to take Michael Jackson’s advice instead. The story has to wait. Here’s why.

The story I was racing to write was triggered by a chance discussion I had yesterday with a smart, young trial lawyer I know. This 30-something litigator told me how he goes about sizing up which jurors will have the maximum impact for his client.

If I could translate his insights on choosing a jury into choosing a target audience, I could help knock the wind out of the worshipers of the 18-49 audience demo. But Michael Jackson’s advice slowed me down.

I can’t remember what song Jackson was singing at the moment in the captivating new documentary “This is It” (somebody out there who has seen it please refresh my memory.)

But Michael Jackson, behind the scenes, in rehearsal for his final tour, as dazzling as ever, AT THE AGE OF 50, thought his pianist was rushing just a bit.  Jackson softly gave this advice to the pianist: “Let it simmer.”

The musical moment wasn’t feeling rushed to me, or apparently to anyone in Jackson’s breathtaking musical entourage. But Jackson felt it. “Let it simmer.”

Michael Jackson’s final tour, as we see in the movie, was going to be a huge spectacle, to say the least. But that one piece of musical advice demonstrated this. For Jackson, the fireworks, the sets, the special effects - none of it interfered with the nuance of the music. Jackson felt the power of slowing down.

The Power of Slowing Down

We journalists often have to remind ourselves of the power of slowing down. Don’t rush to air. Getting it right is more important than getting it first. And don’t talk too fast.

My old boss, Peter Jennings, used to chuckle when he’d ask a reporter to shorten the total time of a story, and the reporter would respond by speeding up his narration. No, Jennings would advise. Never speed up your narration to save time. Jennings knew how to let it simmer.

My Race to 50

In the case of the story I was racing to write for today, I only had one source. He’s a very smart, honest, reliable source. And when he told me what he and his fellow trial lawyers look for in a juror, I wanted to shout it from the rooftop. This is it! This is gonna bury those 18-49 demo-gods!

This is also the danger of writing a daily blog and tweeting, and using all the other tools out there that encourage and enable speed.

Let it simmer. (Don’t worry, my colleagues. If I hadn’t seen the Jackson documentary I still would have waited for a second source.)

More Sources

And so I made a few calls to some other trusted legal contacts of mine. The Vice Chair of litigation with a major firm in Boston connected me with her most trusted jury consultant. An Emory Law School professor directed me to the head of Emory’s litigation skills program. A veteran trial lawyer in Atlanta agreed to share his insights. I’ll be speaking with all of them in the hours after this story is posted.

These other sources may shoot down the insights that triggered my “eureka” moment. If they do, I’ll report that.

But I have a hunch that I’m on to a principle that could help change the way advertisers and programmers define their target audience.

I’m in the 50-day stretch before I turn 50. Either the 18-49 demo goes, or I do.

How Long Should It Simmer?

By the time you reach 50, (hopefully sooner), whether you’re a musician, or an attorney, or a parent, or whatever you do, you’ve hopefully come to trust your gut.

For journalists, the gut needs more than one source.

In order to determine if I’m on to something, I’ve got to take MJ’s advice.

Let it simmer.

Until tomorrow.

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Follow Michael Schulder's battle against getting kicked out of the 18-49 demo here

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Michael Schulder
CNN Senior Executive Producer

It’s going to be hard to keep your eyes off the photo in this piece. But the story of a construction worker’s thumb impaled by an 8 inch serrated blade provides me with a weapon in my final 50 days before turning 50. The weapon might be valuable as I battle those who plan to kick me out of the 18-49 year old audience demographic. Don’t worry, I won’t use the blade.

What Would You Do?

The story of the saw in the thumb was shared at a CNN editorial meeting by one of the most popular leaders in the field of internet social networking. His name is Chris Brogan.

Brogan has more than 106-THOUSAND followers on Twitter (you’re all invited to lunch at his place.)

He was at CNN to explain how companies like ours can enlarge our audience and build trust through social networking.

I had one question for Brogan. So many of us on Facebook, Twitter, and similar networks, find ourselves swamped with inane thoughts, often from very bright people. We’re losing faith in social networking. We’re tempted to tune out.

That’s when Brogan brought up a new phenomenon called velvet rope networks – which are evolving as we speak. They’re designed to address this very problem of - let me coin a term here – FACEBOOK FATIGUE. (Oh – too late – I just Googled “facebook fatigue” and got 70,500 hits.)

The Velvet Rope Network

Brogan defines a velvet rope network as: “… a social network that has a bit of a gate on who would enter, who would participate, and what matters to the people inside.”

One example he pointed to is www.sermo.com, which is a doctors’ only web site with more than 110,000 members. You have to be a practicing physician to get past the velvet rope at Sermo. It’s a place for doctors to brainstorm, get input from qualified colleagues, and solve urgent problems like the one posted by a member when that patient showed up with a saw through his thumb.

Before we address the thumb problem, let me say, 110-thousand doctors is a heck of an audience. They are what the marketing people now call influencers - people to whom others turn for trusted advice.

By their very nature though, the population of velvet rope networks and the influencers within them, are more limited than the mass audiences advertisers have generally sought out.

High Yield?

That’s where Chris Brogan brings in the concept that drives his strategy and that of others in his field: Yield. It would be nice if we could have a precise formula: One influencer yields xx other members of an audience or customers. 1 influencer = xx couch potatoes. But there are no formulas yet. Only a growing acceptance that influencers produce a superior yield.

We also know that influencers often GAIN influence in their 50s. (At least I hope so.)

In fact I was THRILLED to hear the average age of Sermo’s membership: 46. Put THAT in your pipe Madison Avenue.

The Solution?

As for the saw in the thumb, the most popular answer from the 78 Sermo members who responded was basically: get thee to a hand surgeon. But the most novel approach was submitted by an emergency medicine physician who said he “has seen this before.” Here’s an excerpt:

“Cut flattened straw end in a “V” point. Open and flatten straw with concave side against blade and slide it through wound. Grasp both ends of straw which is now through wound with saw blade. Pulling in direction of saw teeth and with pressure toward the base of thumb, slide the staw dorsally and proximally until it encircles or covers the blade teeth.”

It goes into much more detail. And I’m confident the next time I try it, I’ll succeed.

It may be that the doctor who recommended that straw procedure slept at a Holiday Inn Express the night before.

But that’s OK.

He’s a real MD.

And MD’s are very valuable members of an audience, even if they’re older than 49.

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Follow Michael Schulder's battle against getting kicked out of the 18-49 demo here